The Perfect Life
by vylette
Summary: *NEW: CHAPTER 13* For Serena, life is just about moving to a whole another state or even country every time her father gets transferred and not having any friends. But when her father gets transferred to Hawaii, her life will take an interesting turn.
1. Default Chapter

Disclaimer: I do not own Sailor Moon

The Perfect Life

Prologue

Serena Lovette took a good look at her new bedroom. Everything in it was a different shade of blue and purple. The reason this blonde-hair, blue-eyed beauty was looking at her bedroom was because she had just moved to another state. _Figures, they wouldn't even let me decorate my own room_, she thought_._ Her father was in the Army, so she moved around at least twice a year. The good thing about this was that she got to see many different, beautiful places, and the bad thing about this was that she never stayed long enough to make any friends. _Hawaii is going to be just like all the other places, boring and unfriendly._ With this thought, Serena slowly fell asleep.

Chapter 1

"Darien, my man," said Andrew as he ran across the school field toward another student, "that was an awesome party you threw last night!" Andrew Taylor was good-looking, had sandy-blonde hair and emerald eyes, a senior, and was well known around Suncrest High for his lively school spirit. 

"Thanks, Drew," said the grinning, midnight blue-eyed young man with ebony hair, "but what else do you expect from the Great Darien?" Darien Shockcor was also eminent and a senior. He had the looks, the brains, and most importantly, the popularity; this would explain why he was so egotistical. Even though Darien and Andrew were complete opposites, they had been best friends ever since they were in diapers.

At that moment, a gorgeous red head walked up and attached herself to Darien. "Darien! I missed you!" cooed Rachel Riley, the red head. Rachel, or Raye, as her friends called her, was captain of the cheerleading squad, while Darien was captain of the football team. She was always talking about how they belonged together since they were both captains of the two "most important" teams of the school. 

"You just saw me yesterday at my party, Raye." Darien sighed, exasperated. _Damn, I only dated her once, and this is what I get?_

"I know, silly!" Raye giggled, "Can you blame me for missing my boyfriend?"

"News flash, dudette! Darien's not your boyfriend, and he never will be, so why don't you go drool over someone else, 'Kay?" 

"It's okay, Drew. I can speak for myself." Darien, disgusted, looked over at Raye.

"See, Andrew? My Darien does care about me! But then again, you wouldn't see. After all, you are just an air head, who doesn't deserve to be friends with my precious Dare-bear!" Raye said, smirking.

Darien's eyes narrowed and glared at the redheaded girl, who was totally unaware of what Darien was thinking. "Why don't you just fuck off, Raye," Darien spat out. 

Raye's eyes flashed a look of hurt for a millisecond, but quickly switched to one of shock and fury. Her mouth kept on opening and closing, and when she couldn't think of anything to say, she stomped off into the school building. 

After watching the whole scenario, a brown-eyed student came up to the infamous duo, "Dude! How could you so totally do that! Like, that was way harsh, Dare! I mean, like, even for you, man!" His long, tangled, bleached hair blew into face. 

"Thank you very much, Chad," said Darien sarcastically, "I really appreciate your support." 

Andrew started cracking up, "Do I sense a crush, lover boy? Huh?"

"Shut up, dude!" 

Raye has never been turned down before and she was definitely not about to break her record now. In the midst of her thoughts, she wasn't watching where she was heading and ended up on the floor of the hallway with a certain blonde senior. Feeling helpless that she couldn't control anything that happened to her today, she might as well take her anger out on an unimportant student. They were up to their elbows with books and papers. 

"Watch where you're going, bitch!" yelled Raye, who was rubbing her sore bottom. 

"I-I'm really sorry." The blonde said in a soft voice.

"You better be, if I even have a little scratch or a bruise on me, I swear I'll-"

"Are you okay?" 

The blonde looked up to a tall girl with brown hair and green eyes. "Yes, I'm fine, but what about her?"

"Don't worry about her. She's always pissing everyone off," said the tall student, "and by the way, I'm Lita Winters." 

"I'm Serena Lovette," said the blonde.

"EXCUSE me for interrupting this TOUCHING moment, but how DARE you butt in the middle of MY speech!" The fiery red head ranted.

"Oh, shut up," Lita said, " and what if I did interrupt you? You wanna do something about it?" By this time, she was cracking her knuckles.

"You don't scare me, tomboy." Raye bit back and coldly glared at her as she continued her way to homeroom.

"Sorry about that," Lita said as she relaxed her fists. "You must be new here, since I haven't seen you around. Don't take it personally, she's notorious for her temper. Her name is Rachel, but her friends call her Raye. She's also a senior and the most popular girl in this school." She snorted, "Although I have no idea why. But then again, it's probably because she spreads rumors that her and Darien are going out."

"Who's Darien?"

"Oh, sorry, I forgot," she gave Serena a sheepish look, "Darien Shockcor is THE most hottest guy that any girl will EVER see." Lita sighed dreamily as her eyes began to glaze over. "He has the most GORGEOUS pair of midnight blue eyes and the silkiest black hair!"

By the end of her little speech, Serena could swear she saw stars in Lita's eyes. "Hmm, he must be pretty…hot."

"Pretty hot? Pretty hot?! Girl, try PERFECT!"

Serena chuckled, "I think you're going a little too far. I mean, he can't be that perfect. No one is. And besides, you're only judging by his looks." 

"No, you don't understand. He is perfect. I mean, for god's sake, girl, he's been on the high honor roll ever since he started going to school!" 

"So what if he's smart? You still don't know his personality." Serena countered.

"Well…that's true," Lita murmured thoughtfully.

~*the bell rings*~ 

"Oh, well, we better get going," said Lita, "You don't want to get detention on your first day here. Hey, which homeroom are you in?" 

"Room 203. You?"

"Oh, I'm room 204." Lita seemed disappointed for a moment. "Hey! Why don't you sit with me and my friends at lunch?"

"I don't know…I don't want to barge in on you guys." 

Serena looked hesitant until Lita said, "Come on, they'll love to meet you! I promise!" Lita looked pleadingly at Serena.

"Well, if you say so…" said a defeated looking Serena.

"All right, so, meet me by the big willow tree on the back yard at lunch time. Gotta go, see ya later!"

"Bye!" Serena felt a little more relaxed now that she had a friend, but she was still nervous about being the new girl. She never got around to getting use to new people even if she did move around a lot.

Exhaling deeply, Serena stepped into her homeroom. _Well, here goes nothing. _


	2. Chapter 2

Disclaimer: I don't own Sailor Moon. Just to warn you, the beginning is a little slow. 

Chapter 2

As soon as she stepped in, the whole class was looking at her. She felt like to run to the bathroom and hide there until the day was over. Although she got many stares from other schools, she never could get used to be the center of attention, especially if it was not very good attention. She heard many whispers when a booming voice said, "Quiet down, class!" 

"Hello there, you must be Serena Lovette, am I right?"

"Y-Yes, I am," said Serena, a little embarrassed by all the attention she was getting. 

"I'm Ms. Clark, and I'm your homeroom teacher for the remaining year. And," she said to Serena, and turned to the class, "class! This is Serena Lovette, and she will be joining us for the rest of the year. Please welcome her WARMLY." Ms. Clark remembered the last time a new student was welcomed. Toilet paper was littered over the student's house, and shaving cream as a bonus. "Ms. Lovette, why don't you tell us a little about yourself?" 

Serena wasn't sure if her voice was working at the moment. It's not easy speaking infront of 20 to 25 people who she has never met before. "Okay…I moved here from Massachusetts, I'm 17, and I have an older brother and a father who is in the Army," said a nervous Serena. 

"Interesting…" said Ms. Clark as she kept nodding, "well, any questions for Ms. Lovette?"

"I have a question for her," replied a boy with ebony hair and midnight blue eyes. 

"Yes, Mr. Shockcor?" Ms. Clark stared skeptically at the boy.

"What's your phone number?"

The class burst into laughter as the teacher started yelling at the boy. 

"Sorry about that, Miss Lovette. That will NEVER happen AGAIN, right, Mr. Shockcor?" Anyone in that classroom would have got the impression that steam was coming out of her ears. 

The boy smirked and feigned an innocent look, "Why, of course not, Ms. Clark!" 

"Now, Ms. Lovette, will you take a seat behind Ms. Hart?" 

Serena, wondering who in the world was "Ms. Hart", looked around to find a blonde girl waving her hand in the air. Shooting a grateful look to the girl, Serena walked to her seat and sat down. 

The blonde turned around and looked at Serena. "Hey, you look a lot like me! I'm Mina. You're Serena, right?"

"Hi, nice to meet you."

"Do you know that THE most popular guy in this school just asked for your phone number?!" 

"Um…he was probably just joking around or something," said Serena, not really interested. _Great, it's my first day and I'm already getting made fun of. Well, at least I made two new friends today. Wow, two in a day, this is too good to be true. I hope it's not a joke. _

"Anyway, you'll like it here. It's a really good school and there's lots of amazing people, parties, shopping malls, and definitely beaches. It's great. You'll fall in love with it," she gushed excitedly. Then her face suddenly brightened, "Hey! I know! I'll show you around the town! You can meet all my friends and stuff! This is so exciting!"

"Really? I mean, are you sure this isn't taking away your study time or anything like that? This school looks pretty hard." Serena couldn't believe it. This girl just asked her to hang out together. For Serena this was strange. All the other schools that she has been to have been unfriendly. All the students already had friends and it seemed as if they didn't have any room for one more.

"No! Not at all! This school is kinda stressful, but you just gotta be like, whatever, and relax, you know? 'Cause if you don't, then you are REALLY gonna get bogged down."

"Oh, okay, then I'd love for you to show me the town."

"Good, then I'll meet you after school at the front gate, okay?"

"Okay"

"We better start paying attention or Ms. Clark will seriously blow."

_Maybe this school won't be so bad after all. _Serena felt someone's eyes on her. She turned to see who it was, and it was none other than Darien Shockcor. He had a look of interest in his eyes. When their eyes met, he put on a smirk and turned back to passing notes to his friends. _God, I hope he doesn't play some kind of prank on me. He looks like the type to do that kind of stuff: popular and good-looking. Lita wasn't kidding when she said that he looked good. I should be careful. _

*Bell rings*

"So, what class do you have now?" Mina asked. 

"I have Physics now, and then Spanish, and then Calculus, and then lunch. That's what my schedule says anyway," answered Serena. 

"Oh, I don't have any of those with you. That totally blows! Oh well, I'll just have to see you at lunch, k?" 

"Okay, I'll see you then."

_Okay, now I have physics, room 140. Where's room 140? Jeez, this school is huge! I hope I'm not going to be late, or else I'll be marked as the "late girl" for the rest of the year._

Serena felt a presence behind her. She turned around to face a guy's chest, and she looked up to find Darien Shockcor's face. 

"Need help getting to your classes?" He asked with a smooth, confident voice. 

"No thanks, I can get to my classes just fine. Thanks for asking, though," she replied with a quiet voice.

"Awww…come on, you know you want me to help you. Besides, I know that this school's pretty big, so you'll probably need some help." He seemed pretty confident that she was going to say yes, so she stubbornly decided to refuse his offer again. 

"No, it's really okay," Serena told him a little coldly, trying not to sound annoyed. She did a 180-degree turn and started to walk away, when she heard him say, "Okay, but don't blame me if you get lost!"

_Who the hell does that guy think he is? Just because he's some popular jock!_

Darien was confused. He couldn't think of a reason why she would turn down a perfectly good offer. _What's up her ass?_ Even though he thought she was a little cold, he couldn't deny that she was beautiful. He wanted to find out everything about her, what kind of food she liked, down to her favorite color. Next time, he'll try harder. _Wonder if she'll like to eat lunch with me…_


	3. Chapter 3

Disclaimer: I don't own Sailor Moon (this is going to be the last time I type this b/c I'm getting kinda tired doing this). I don't own the phrase, "Me. You. A hot tub." I heard that on TV or something like that, so don't get all mad at me for using it. 

Chapter 3

Finally, it was time for lunch. Serena was smart, but today Calculus totally fried her brain. Remember that she had to meet Lita near the tree, she scanned the big yard and locked eyes with…Darien. Darien waved to her from the huge crowd and started to walk towards her. Not wanting to put up with his ego right now, Serena started to walk away from him. 

"Hey wait!"

Serena rolled her eyes and sharply turned around. "What do you want?"

"Me. You. A hot tub."

"Yeah, well, too bad that's never going to happen. My brain is on overdrive and I don't need this right now so just fuck off, Darien."

"Well, well, well, Miss Innocent actually swore! Who would've thought…" Darien feigned a surprised look. For some reason, her telling him to fuck off actually hurt him a little. He shook off the feeling. "You know, you still seem kinda lost. Are you sure you don't want me to help you?"

God, this guy just won't give up, she thought. "Actually, you could help me with something," she started, "can you get out of my face?"

"Ouch, you wound me, Sere. Well, I can't exactly do that. Because I'm taking you out tonight." He seemed absolutely confident. He gave her a smile that would've melted other girls, but seemed to be ineffective on Serena. 

"Excuse me? No, I'm not going out with you! How can you just assume that? Besides, I'd much rather be doing homework than be out with you."

"Are you sure you'd rather stare at your homework than me? I mean, I know I'm more pleasing to the eye, don't you think so?" Darien had the nerve to smirk when there was a sign of a tiny blush, not that it lasted very long. 

"And," she continued, "I'm pretty sure you'd rather be playing tonsil hockey with some girl."

"Yeah, I do. With you," he smirked again.

A very frustrated Serena sighed and said, "Look, I don't even know you and you don't even know me. Why don't you just take out one of your groupies?"

"I don't want any of my 'groupies', I want _you_ to go out with me. Besides, we can get to know each other better," he wiggled his eyebrows at her.

__

Oh my god! This guy has some nerves! Grr…well, since it came down to this…

"You know what, Darien? You're right, we _could _get to know each other better," Serena said seductively.

It took a moment for Darien to register what was happening and then he smirked and said, "I knew you'd come around." 

"…in another lifetime. Bye, Darien," she said, looking triumphant, and walked away, swaying her hips. 

_Did I just do that? What got into me?! Gosh, that has got to be the stupidest thing that I've ever done! *Moan* Why me?_

Darien just stood there, not comprehending what happened to him. Andrew, having watched the whole scenario, walked over to Darien, having tears in his eyes…that is, tears of laughter. 

"Hey, Drew?"

"*Laugh* yeah, Dare? *Laugh*"

"What the hell just happened?"

"I'll tell you what happened, *laugh*, you *laugh* just got *laugh* dissed and dismissed!!!! HAHAHAHAHA!!!!"

"Nah, man, she's just trying to play hard to get. Didn't you see that she was totally flirting with me? Well, if that's what she wants…" If that was how she was going to be, then he was going to play, too. Only, he was much more experienced in this game. He knew he was going to win and soon she was going to be his.

Andrew, still laughing his ass off, patted Darien on the back and said, "Sure, dude, whatever you say."

"Jeez, Drew, try not to piss in your pants," Darien commented dryly.

"HAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!!"

"Hey, Serena! Over here!" Lita yelled at her from her lunch spot. 

Serena walked over there to meet her when she saw Mina there, too. She asked, puzzled, "You two know each other?"

"Oh, you know Lita?" 

"You know Mina?" The two asked at the same time. 

Mina said excitedly, "This is great! OK, Serena, I want you to meet another friend of mine. This is Amy." She pointed to a girl with black hair that shined dark blue and blue eyes. 

"Hi, nice to meet you, Serena. I'm Amy," she said, seeming a little shy.

"Hey," said Serena. 

"Now that we all know each other," Mina started, "would you mind telling us exactly why DARIEN SHOCKCOR was talking to you?!" 

Serena rolled her eyes, "Oh. Him. He only asked me to go out with him. No, scratch that. He TOLD me to go out with him. Can you guys believe that?" 

By the time she was finished. They all had their eyes wide open and their jaws were hitting the floor. 

"What? What's wrong?" Serena asked, confused. 

If it was even possible, Mina's mouth dropped lower, "Girl, he ONLY ASKED YOU OUT? ONLY?! Please don't tell me you said no!"

"OK…then I won't."

"OH MY GOD, you said no!!!!!!!!" Lita yelled. People looked over at her, giving her a weird look. 

Amy said, "I cannot believe you said, no. You know, every girl would kill to be his girlfriend."

Serena sighed, exasperated because of how they were making a big deal out of this, "Well, he's a player. And I don't really think he's the type of guy I'm looking for."

"Hun, he's every girl's type!" Mina said, as they all laughed when she said this, minus Serena of course. 

"He might be every girl's type except for mine. Like I said before, he's a player. We're total opposites. And I know that I'm not his type. I figured that he only goes for brainless ditzes."

"Yes, now that I think about it, he does only date girls that are quite…challenged when it comes to education," said Amy thoughtfully. 

"Yeah well, you never know…" Mina said. 

They talked like this until the period was over. Then they went their separate ways, Serena going to English. 

Serena walked into the school and arrived at her locker. _10-21-34…and open…wait…OK, and open…jeez I swear this thing hates me!_

"Having troubles, Sere?" A voice that seemed remarkably similar to that of Darien's whispered into her right ear. 

Serena froze. He was too close. She felt the hair on the back of her neck stand up and goosebumps on her arms. "No, I'm fine," she stubbornly said. This was getting kind of annoying. He just kept on popping up whenever she was having difficulties. 

Satisfied with seeing the reaction that he wanted to see, he held up his right fist and banged the locker twice. Upon seeing it open, he smirked and said, "Aren't you going to reward your knight-in-shining-armor with a kiss? Or better yet, why not take up my offer on that hot tub?"

"In your dreams, Darien," she scoffed.

He pouted, "Why not? I _did_ save you from being late for class and not getting detention."

"Well, technically, you didn't save me from being late, because if you keep on bugging me, then I'm really going to be late," Serena retorted, "so good bye, Darien." With that she walked away. 

Darien yelled back, "I'll be dreaming about you in that hot tub!"

Darien stared at her back, or actually more like her ass, as she was walking away. He smiled, knowing by her previous reaction, that he had a chance.

Note: OK, what should I name the high school? Any suggestions? I can't think of any and I don't know any actual high schools in Hawaii. Thanks! 


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter 4

Serena sighed as she threw her backpack on the floor and plopped down on her bed. It has been a long day for her today and so far, she has made more friends in one day than she had in a long time. As usual, she made some enemies. But this time, she made enemies with most of the female population. It wasn't her fault that Darien chose to annoy her and not them. Serena thought about Darien and how annoying he was. She closed her eyes and an image of Darien's face popped up in her head. With his midnight blue eyes, his ebony black hair, and his built figure… She had to admit that he definitely was not the ugliest guy. But she also couldn't ignore the fact that he was the most annoying guy that she had ever met. She was confused about what he was doing. Was he playing a prank on her? Or did he really like her? She didn't know what to think. She sighed once more and was about to go downstairs for a snack when the phone rang. She walked over to her cordless phone and picked it up.

"Hello?"

"Hey! What's up, girlfriend?" 

"Hey, Mina! Where did you get my phone number? It's not listed in the phone book," said Serena, confused. 

"Oh, I got it from Lita. I can't believe you didn't give me your number!"

"Oh my god, I'm so sorry, I totally forgot that I was going to give it to you after school!" Serena said, immediately feeling bad.

Mina quickly said, "No! It's OK, I was just joking! You know me, always joking around, so don't feel bad."

Relieved, Serena asked, "What did you call for anyway? Not that I mind that you called."

"I have the best idea! You wanna go down to the beach with Lita, Amy and me? It's going to be SO much fun!!!!" She squealed enthusiastically. 

"Yeah, sure! But is it okay if I bring my homework with me? 'Cause I have a lot to do."

Mina made a face, even though she knew that Serena wouldn't be able to see it, "I guess so, but what would be the fun in that? You sound kinda like Amy, she loves to study. You gotta swim or play volleyball with us! And check out the total babes!"

"OK…Well, I'll bring it just in case."

"Okay, I'll pick you up right now. Where do you live?"

"My address is 18 Grey Rd."

"Oh, I know where that is! That's the neighborhood with all those big houses, right?"

This time it was Serena's turn to make a face, "Yeah, you can say that." She hated it when people made comments about her father's money. Sure it was great having lots of money to buy things with, but people just didn't understand what her life was like. Serena would give up all of her money if it meant having a normal life, like living in one place for at least more than a year. 

"I'll be there in 10! C ya later, hun!"

"Bye." With that, Serena put the phone back to its place and went to search her closet for a swimming suit. She was about to pick a dark blue Nike one piece, but she thought about what Darien would think about it and looked at her red and pink bikini. _Wait a sec, who cares about what that jerk thinks?_ Even with that thought, she couldn't help but pick the bikini. _I do NOT care about what he thinks, I just wanna wear a bikini! There are going to be lots of hot guys there!_ As Serena tried to convince herself that she didn't care about Darien, she heard the doorbell ring. 

"Coming!"

Serena flung open the door to find a girl who was listening to a CD, a girl who was reading a book, and a girl who looked as if she had ten cups of coffee. They said their hello's and walked over to Mina's yellow beetle. On their short drive to the beach, they talked about all their favorites in color, movies, clothes and movie stars. 

When they arrived there, they laid down their beach towels. They stripped down to their swimming suits, when Mina screamed, "Oh my god! SERE, I LOVE YOUR BIKINI!" 

"Um…thanks," said Serena, feeling a little uncomfortable that her friends were staring at her. Her top was red with big orange-ish pink Hawaiian flowers on it. It tied around the neck and the back. Her bottom was also red with Hawaiian flowers and it was knotted on both sides of her hip. 

"Yeah, I love it! Where did you get it?" Lita asked. 

"I got it in Florida when I lived there." 

Mina immediately ran off to the volleyball court and Lita jumped into the water to do a few laps. That left Serena and Amy to talk and read. 

"So, Serena, you moved here from Massachusetts, right?"

Serena nodded, "Yeah."

"I heard that education is really good there. Is that true?"

"Yes, it is. School is definitely harder over there than here, and this school is hard."

"I would love to go to school in Massachusetts. It would certainly be a challenge," Amy said with a sparkle in her eyes. 

Serena was about to comment on that when a Frisbee hit her on her right shoulder. "Ow!" Serena yelped loudly. 

"Hey, sorry about that, but you really shouldn't be sitting close to me if you're just going to sit there and get hit. I know you want me and you just can't help drooling over me, but safety comes first, Sere," the spawn of Satan himself said, with his "oh so sexy" smirk. He was clad in swimming trunks and was holding a surfboard. 

Serena almost growled at Darien. She wanted to scratch that smirk off his face with her newly painted nails. A chipped manicure was only a small price she was willing to pay to get rid of that idiotic smirk. "Go away, Darien, I'm not in the mood to laugh my ass off." Then, seeing the water drip down his well-toned six-pack, she thought maybe him being here wasn't so bad after all. _Wait a second! What the hell was she talking about? This is DARIEN! I don't like him! Hell, I don't even think he's hot! _

While Serena was trying to win a battle against herself, Darien noticed the way she was looking at him earlier. He smirked even more, if possible. She was checking him out. If he continued with his flirting, she would eventually give up and he'll win her over. Darien saw an image of him and her on the beach, alone and eating dinner. He saw her feeding him chocolate-covered strawberries with whipped cream…Yes, he definitely couldn't wait until she was his. Waking up into reality, Darien said, "Ouch, must you wound me so, Sere? And I actually thought you were enjoying my presence just a minute ago." He kept his smirk on his face as Serena blushed a deep red hue. 

"Maybe you're hallucinating," Serena scowled. 

Darien laughed at her bad attempt to cover the fact that she was, indeed, "checking him out". 

Serena frowned, "Come on, Amy, let's go and get something to drink."

"Um…ok…" Amy said, uncomfortable. The sexual tension was almost palpable. Amy wondered why Serena and Darien didn't get along. It was obvious that they were both highly attracted to each other. Amy looked at Darien. She was probably the most studious person in the school and didn't notice boys much, but even she could see why Darien was the most popular and desired guy in the school. 

Serena grabbed Amy's hand and was about to walk away when Darien grabbed her arm and said, "Hey, wait a sec, I was just joking before." He mentally slapped himself for almost allowing her to get away.

"You know Darien," Serena mockingly said, "you gotta stop grabbing my arm. I know you can't keep your hands off of me, but I gotta go now." She almost laughed out loud at the surprised look on his face. She was amused that he was getting a taste of his own medicine. Anyone could tell by the look on his face that he wasn't expecting that kind of response from her. 

He recovered moments after and smirked, "You're right, I just can't get enough of you. That's why you should go out with me and find out how good my hands are at touching other places besides your arm." He wiggled his annoying dark eyebrows suggestively at her for the second time that day. 

Serena blushed at his sexual innuendo but put a disgusted look on her face, "Ugh, as if!" 

At that moment, a blonde wearing a skimpy bikini came up to Darien and put her arms on his waist and stomach, "Hey, Darien. Are you busy? 'Cause I was wondering if you wanted to…" She whispered the rest in his ear. She was trying her best to look seductive with an enormous amount of make up piled on her face. 

Darien smirked, turning his head to look at her and said, "Actually, I'm kinda busy at the moment. Maybe some other time, Shirley."

The blonde pouted, "It's Sherry." Feeling rejected and embarrassed, she walked away to another target. That target was unfortunately Andrew. Darien smirked and waved while Andrew kept sending him a helpless look. 

__

Darien turned back to where Serena was, only to find sand. _Damn! _He turned away for only a second. He'll have to find her later. With that promise, Darien walked toward Andrew to save him from that Shirley girl.

Serena was thoroughly disgusted that she couldn't stop herself from blushing whenever he flirted with her. He was only trying to get her to out with him so that she can be another notch on his belt. She couldn't help but feel attracted to him no matter how much of a player he was. She shook her head, she wasn't attracted to him. She has known him for only ten hours at the most! Besides, she would only get hurt in the end. 

"Serena, are you okay? Serena?"

Serena snapped out of her thoughts by Amy shaking her shoulder lightly. 

"Oh yeah, I'm fine, I was just thinking about how much homework I have to do tonight," she lied, "so I better go. Can you tell Lita and Mina that I went home early? I'm really sorry about this, Amy." She felt bad about lying to her new friend, but she just wanted to go home to her room and her bed. 

Amy smiled, "It's okay, Serena. At least this school has someone other than me who cares about her studies. Don't feel too bad, Lita and Mina will understand. Wait, scratch that. They won't be hurt, but they probably won't understand why you want to do your homework." Amy giggled. 

"Thanks a lot, Amy. I really appreciate it. I'm just gonna catch a ride on a bus. I'll see you tomorrow at school, okay?"

"Sure, bye, Sere!" 

Serena waved a good bye and ran all the way to the closest bus stop. She sat on the bench and wondered about Darien. She tried to think about something else other than Darien, but her mind kept wondering back to him. Damn him, she thought. She hurriedly got on the bus when it arrived, and thought that maybe Darien really did like her. But then she saw the blonde who attached herself to Darien a while ago when she looked out the window and thought, maybe not. This was confusing for her and she didn't know what to think. Maybe if she slept on it things would be clearer. 


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter 5

It has been a week since Serena moved and she was liking her new school immensely, minus a few exceptions. Of course those exceptions included Darien and his groupies. Darien still flirted with her shamelessly and she still was annoyed with him. Nothing changed except for the fact that now she didn't have so much make-up work to do anymore. Even though she came to her school a couple of weeks after it started, she had to do an unbelievably huge amount of make-up work. Serena couldn't believe it, but she actually couldn't wait until Monday. Usually she would despise Mondays through Fridays but now that she had three best friends, days that ended in "day" became her favorite days. Over the past week, the four girls became the best of friends and did practically everything together. They were inseparable. 

Monday morning came around and Serena almost skipped to the bathroom to get ready. She opened the door and was about to get ready to walk toward the bus stop when she heard her father telling her to wait. 

"Yeah, dad?" 

"Serena, why don't you take your new car to school today? I bet it'll be a million times better than that public bus that you ride to school everyday."

Serena rolled her eyes and said, "No thanks, dad, it could get hi-jacked or something while I'm in class." Her new car that her father got for her was a silver Porsche, 2003 model. She wasn't stupid and she definitely wasn't about to drive it to school only to have it stolen by some punk. That and also, she didn't want the whole school to think she was a rich brat who got everything she wanted from her "daddy". 

"Yes, that might be a good idea. I heard that the kids in public schools do all kinds of drugs. They should all be sent to military school where they will be reformed in to better men and women," her father said in a serious voice. 

"I have to go now or I'll miss the bus, bye dad." Serena wondered why her father had a thing against public school students. Not all kids in private schools do drugs. And it's not like the kids in private schools don't do drugs. If he hated public schools so much, then why did he put her in one? Then she remembered that there weren't private schools where he was transferred to so he had no choice. 

Serena sat in her seat and stared out the window. She was in her English class, listening to the monotonous voice of her teacher, Mrs. Jones. She was talking about some project on Romeo and Juliet. Serena thought this was kind of pointless since they all read the book in their freshmen year. Not that she didn't like the book or anything. Serena loved that book even if it ended in tragedy. She thought that the love between Romeo and Juliet was romantic. Why couldn't there be love like that in real life? Except for the part where they kill themselves. 

"Now," Mrs. Jones said, "I'll put you all into groups of three. You'll work on the project everyday in this class for the next 3 days and present it on Friday. Now, on to the project, in your groups, you'll have to pick a scene, act it out and analyze it. You'll have to be able to analyze the figurative language, irony, and theme. If you pick a scene where there are many roles to play, you'll obviously have to act out several roles. Any questions? No? Okay then, I'll read off the groups.

"Group one, Matt, Laura and Jennifer. Group two, David, Megan and Amy. Group three, Andrew, Serena and Darien. Group four,"

Serena couldn't even listen to the rest anymore. All she heard was "Serena and Darien" and she froze. No, no, no, no, no. She couldn't be in the same group as Darien, this was wrong. She was okay with being around him for five minutes, but the whole week? No way in the hell was she going to survive. She looked over to Darien, only to see him wave at her with a pleased smile on his face. Then she thought about the other person in her group. Andrew. She was okay with that. She was more than okay with that. At least he didn't make her feel nervous or fidgety. In fact, anyone else but Darien she was okay with. A plan formed in her head. The whole time she would stick to only talking to Andrew. She would avoid Darien and only talk to him when necessary to the project. 

Darien thought about the group arrangement. He couldn't believe his luck. All he could hear was "Serena and Darien" and unlike Serena, to his ears it sounded perfect. He wanted it to be like that. Serena and Darien. Just perfect. 

"Now groups, get together and discuss which scene you'd like to do."

Serena felt like she was walking to a platform to get beheaded as she walked toward where Darien and Andrew were sitting. She sighed. She could do this. Damn him for making her feel this way. She wasn't scared of Darien. She could do this. 

"Hey, Serena," Andrew cheerfully said. Andrew was looked like the typical boy next door, but the whole school new that he was as much of a player as Darien was. Definitely nicer, Serena thought. 

"Hey, babe," Darien winked. Yes, Andrew was definitely nicer. 

"Hey guys. I think we should do the fight scene where Romeo kills Tybalt. Darien, do you want to be Tybalt?" She said with a murderous look in her eye. 

Andrew laughed, "Whoa, Serena, try not to kill Darien."

Darien said with a mischievous look, "I think we should do the scene where Romeo and Juliet spend the night together. I'll be Romeo."

"You just wanna get cozy with Andrew, Darien. I didn't know you were that kind of guy…" Serena feigned a shocked look. 

Darien scowled as Andrew put on a face of horror, "You know what I meant. Andrew's not going to be playing Juliet, you are, princess. After all, it would make sense since you're a girl."

Serena rolled her eyes, "Just because I'm a girl, it doesn't mean I have to play one. When Shakespeare wrote this play, girls weren't allowed to act. Men acted out the all the parts of the women in the play."

"Well," Andrew said, "I don't really have the intention of being Juliet and getting cozy with Romeo over there, so you'll have to play the part, Sere." Andrew looked especially apologetic. "Please, Sere? We don't have to do the bedroom scene. I promise. We'll do the last scene. Please? It's the best scene of the book and you won't have to be in the same bed as Darien."

Unable to look at Andrew's horror-filled face, Serena had no choice to accept, "Fine…but only because of Andrew." 

Serena ran out of the classroom as soon as she heard the bell. Saved by the bell, she thought. Then she suddenly realized that doing the last scene rather than the bed scene was much worse. Instead of just lying beside Darien, she would actually have to be kissed by him! Even the thought of kissing him made her blush bright red. What had she gotten herself into? Playing Darien's Juliet? She thought that this was the worst thing that happened to her so far this year. But deep down inside, she wasn't sad at all that she would have to be kissed by Darien. _Do I actually want him to kiss me? _Serena became confused. She wasn't supposed to have a crush on him. She was supposed to hate him for being an egocentric jerk. She was supposed to hate him for being a popular pig who made fun of people not as popular as he is, like her. At the thought of Darien finding out about her crush on him, she suddenly became embarrassed. _I know he'll spread it around the whole school and humiliate me. I won't let him do that. Never. _

Darien felt a pang in his heart when he saw her run out of the classroom as if it was on fire. She was repulsed by his presence. Darien sighed at this. 

Andrew saw this and frowned, "What's wrong, Dare?"

Darien sighed again, "It's nothing."

"Okay, 'cause from my point of view, it looked like you just won a million bucks," said Andrew, his words dripping with sarcasm. 

Darien decided to ignore the comment and put a smirk on his face, "Really, it's nothing. I'm just thinking of who to go to the party with this Friday. Who do you think, Brittany or Allison? It's a tough choice."

Andrew smiled, "Good old Darien, huh?"

__

Yeah, Good old Darien. 


	6. Chapter 6

AU: to post a story, you have to go to "Document Manager" and upload the document first and then go to "Create Story"

Chapter 6

Serena sighed as the bell rang. She definitely didn't feel like dragging herself all the way to her English class today. She didn't know why she let Andrew con her into playing Juliet. She was almost sure that Andrew wouldn't look too bad in a dress…Grudgingly walking to her locker, she saw Darien leaning on her locker with his arm. _Great, he just couldn't wait till next period to bother me._

Serena rolled her eyes, "What the hell do you want?" 

Darien looked at her and smirked, "Why, Serena! Watch your language! Are you gonna kiss me with that mouth?" Darien watched as Serena's nose wrinkled. He couldn't wait until next period so he thought that maybe he could walk her to class. Darien could just imagine her lying on her back and him kissing her. Darien smiled inwardly. 

"I don't think you need to worry about that, Darien," Serena stated, "because there's no way in the hell I would kiss you anyway." 

Darien felt a pang in his chest but ignored it as heartburn for something he ate. But then a light bulb came on, "You know, you might want to take that back, after all, you ARE Juliet and I AM Romeo so we're gonna have to kiss over and over again, you know, for rehearsal." Darien saw that Serena comprehended his answer and watched her face turn red. Darien smirked, _bingo_.

Serena looked at his triumphant face, determined not to let him know that he got to her. 

"Whatever." _Gee, nice come back, Sere._

Serena started walking, when she noticed that he was closely following behind her back. She felt peeved but realized that they had the same class next. Still, she had no idea why he had to walk so close to her. She felt like turning around and yelling at him to get out of her personal bubble. 

Darien could smell what kind of perfume she wore and her shampoo. Then Darien realized something. He was doing what he swore never to do. He was acting like a sick puppy! And over a woman who didn't like him back…_Great going, Dare, just let her know that you're drooling all over her. Now she'll want you_, he thought to himself. He drew back a little. 

Serena felt Darien draw back. She shrugged it off and walked through the doors of her English class. 

"Okay, class!" the teacher announced enthusiastically, "You can began as soon as you can find your partners!"

Andrew walked over and gave Serena and Darien scripts for Act 5. "Okay, these are the scripts, so memorize them, write them down on your hand or whatever."

Darien started to laugh, "When did you start being all studious, Drew? This is priceless!" 

When Darien finally chose to stop, Andrew glared at him and said, "I need a good grade or I'm gonna flunk this class, dude, and you're not gonna mess it up for me, capice?"

"Yeah, yeah, okay, gotcha," Darien snickered. 

They practiced using their scripts and for Serena, it was the longest class she has ever had.

"…okay, Serena?" Andrew questioned. 

Serena confusedly said, "Huh?"

Darien chuckled, "Going off into your own little world, Sere?" 

"What I said was," Andrew said, sending a glare to Darien, "that we're going to do the scene where Romeo and Juliet kill themselves now." 

"Oh, okay," she stupidly said. Serena mentally slapped herself on the head. Now she's going to look like a dumb blonde to Darien. _Wait, I don't care about Darien, so why should I care if I'm being dumb?_

Serena laid herself down on the floor, closed her eyes and said, "Whenever you guys are ready." For some reason she felt nervous about this whole thing. She suddenly didn't know where to put her hands. She quickly decided to just put them by her side. 

"Okay, and…Action!" Andrew shouted. 

Serena couldn't even think as she lied on the floor. All she could think of was how the kiss was going to be. What would Darien think after he kissed her? Were her lips too dry? 

"…and thus with a kiss, I die," Darien spoke quietly and started to lean down towards her. 

Serena held her breath and waited for the kiss. Suddenly, instead of feeling Darien's lips on her own, she heard the sharp ringing of the bell. She blew out her breath and quickly stood up.

Darien couldn't even begin to explain the frustration that he felt. _Damn it! Damn it all to hell!_

"Well," Andrew started, "I guess that's it for today, I'll see ya tomorrow, Serena. Good work!"

"Thanks, I'll see ya." Serena almost ran out of the room to her next class. 

Darien looked longingly at her disappearing back. 

"That was really great performance, D," Andrew said excitedly and slapped his back, "have you though of acting professionally?"

Darien snorted, "Don't think so, Drew, theater isn't really my type." 

Andrew snickered, "I know what your type is, your type is blonde and blue eyes and she plays Juliet."

"She's hot," Darien stated plainly.

"Yeah, dude, I wouldn't mind going with her to the dance at the end of this month. Mind if I ask her out?"

Darien's eyes flashed and he looked at Andrew murderously.

Andrew put his hands up in the air, "Okay, okay! Jesus Christ! You'd think that I smashed your car or something!"

__

Yeah, it felt like something like that…


	7. Chapter 7

Chapter 7

Darien pondered about the dance at the end of this month. He momentarily forgot about that. The school was holding a fund-raiser dance to raise money for the new auditorium they were going to build. Unfortunately, Darien didn't think of asking anyone yet. He had absolutely no idea whom to go with. The only person he wanted to go with was Serena, but for the first time in his life, he couldn't predict what would happen if he asked. Darien smirked, _But hey, this is me I'm talking about, of course she's going to say yes, and if she doesn't, then I'm just going to have to use my persuasive skills._

With that, Darien picked up the phone to call Serena, when he remembered he didn't have her number. He slammed the phone down and searched for the phone book. After a futile attempt at trying to find her number, Darien sighed, frustrated, and dragged his hands through his locks.

Just then, the phone started to ring. Darien picked up the phone, annoyed, "Yeah?"

"Jeez, what's up your ass?"

Darien blinked a couple of times and managed to choke out, "Serena?"

"No, it's Santa Clause. What do you think?" Over the phone Serena rolled her eyes at his stupidity. _Why are the guys I know so brainless? _

Darien was smirking as he said, "Well, well, well, can't live without hearing my sexy voice, Sere?"

Serena frowned and said coldly, "You wish. Look, you're wasting my time. I just called to tell you that we're meeting at my house tomorrow, right after school 'cause Andrew can't go to class tomorrow. He has to go to Virginia with his parents to one of his cousin's funeral. I already told Andrew about the meeting and he agreed. You can follow my car so you know where you're going. Andrew will already be there by the time we arrive. Oh, and bring your costume with you to class tomorrow. I'm going to fix it. Any questions?"

"Hmm," Darien thoughtfully muttered, "Could this be some kind plan of yours to get me to be alone with you and you have Andrew gagged and stuffed in your closet?"

Darien waited for an answer but heard the dial tone instead. He smiled and shook his head. _I like them feisty anyway_. He smirked with that thought.

__

UGH! He is THE most infuriating man, no, boy, that I have ever met! Serena fumed as she thought about Darien. How could he have her blushing one minute and have her get mad the next? _Ugh, and he has to come over tomorrow! Oh no! My room! _Her eyes became wide as it dawned upon her that Darien would get to see her newly ordered bras and underwear from the new Victoria's Secret catalogue that were lying on her bed. Horrified, she frantically started to clear her bed of all the lingerie. 

Serena walked into her English class to see that everyone was working with their partners already. Everyone except for Darien. She saw that he was already dressed up, waiting for her to show up. 

Darien saw her and drawled, "So, Miss Serena is finally here. For a second, I thought you stood me up to go with Andrew."

Serena rolled her eyes and sarcastically said, "Of course not, your highness. I would never even think about standing YOU up."

Darien smiled, "I always knew you were head over heels in love with me."

"Whatever, just take of the freakin' costume so I can fix it."

"You know, Sere," Darien grinned slyly, "if you wanted to see me naked, you could have just asked me to take off my clothes instead of using the excuse of 'fixing it'."

With the thought of a naked Darien, Serena blushed, but mentally slapped herself for doing so. She scowled at him, "I never knew that a person could be so annoying."

"Well, then I guess that would make me number one, huh? And since I'm number one in everything else, I guess that would also make me perfect," Darien smirked. 

She narrowed her eyes, "Oh please, nobody's perfect."

Darien backed her up against a desk, leaned in, their noses almost touching, and said, "And I'm nobody."

Darien slowly inched closer so that he could feel her breath on his lips. Serena's breathing suddenly became shallow. She closed her eyes, anticipating the kiss. Then, after what it seemed like a thousand years, he pressed his lips against hers. Serena's mind started to spin and she couldn't think about anything else but that kiss. She felt a tingly sensation on her lips and never wanted the kiss to end. Serena parted her mouth a little when she felt Darien's tongue brush up against her lips. His tongue immediately darted into her mouth and caressed her tongue. She quickly responded by kissing him back. Darien groaned. She tasted like heaven itself. He slid his hands up her shirt and rubbed her waist. 

Serena broke off the kiss when a voice reminded her of where she was.

"Are you quite done yet?" It was her teacher, with a stern look on her face. Serena and Darien looked to see that the whole class was staring at them. The girls were giving Serena murderous looks. Some of the jocks were giving Darien a sly look and a thumbs-up sign. Embarrassed and angry with herself for letting it get out of hand, Serena flushed and stared at her shoes. Darien brushed his hands through his hair. 

"I'm guessing that that wasn't for the play? Please try to control yourselves next time. I will not tolerate hormonal teenagers in my class. If you want to make out, please do so somewhere else. Do I make myself clear?"

"Yes ma' am," Serena and Darien answered. 

"Good."

"Um, ma'am?" Serena asked, "May I go to the restroom?"

"Go ahead, but be right back."

"Thank you."

__

I can't believe I lost control like that. This is so embarrassing! What will the other students say? They'll never look at the same way again? HOW DARE HE KISS ME?! Serena sniffed, but quickly regained her posture_. I am NOT going to let Darien win. Never._ With that, Serena walked back to her classroom.

When Darien saw her walk towards him, he stood up from the chair that he was sitting in and smiled, "H-"

"Give me your costume already so I can fix it," she snapped. 

Darien blinked his eyes confusedly, "Is something wrong? Why are you ang-"

"Are you going to give it to me or do you just like wearing tights?" She asked in a clipped tone. 

"What's wrong?" There was concern in his voice, which Serena brushed it off as fake. 

"Nothing. Just give me the costume. The bell's going to ring any minute."

Darien was confused about why she would speak to him in such an icy voice. Fifteen minutes ago, she seemed to be enjoying his presence. Darien sighed, and went to the bathroom to change. He came back two minutes later and asked again.

"Was it the kiss? Although I don't know why, 'cause you seemed to be enjoying it just fine."

Serena eyes showed a look of intense hatred,

"Wait, Sere, I didn't mean it, let me rephrase tha-"

A loud smack sound and Serena's rapid footsteps were heard. On Darien's face was a look of shock. He lifted his hand up to his left cheek. She had slapped him! _But why?_

The girls flocked towards Darien at once. 

"OH MY GOD! DARIEN! ARE YOU OKAY, SWEETIE?"

"HOW DARE THAT BITCH SLAP YOU!"

"WHO DOES THAT BITCH THINK SHE IS?"

"Poor baby! THAT SLUT!"

Darien pushed them aside and headed for the door when he heard the bell ring. Even some of the guys came up to him. 

"Ouch, man. That was a total diss!"

"Dude, you have a major hand print on your face."

"If you broke up with her, is she free?"

Darien, irritated, chose to ignore them, kicked the door open and stalked out into the hallway. He honestly didn't mean for it to come out the way it did. He didn't mean to sound so…crude. It was the best kiss that he's ever had. He enjoyed it and just wanted to see if the feeling was mutual. _I guess not_, he thought bitterly. But he still couldn't figure out what she was all upset about in the first place. _*sigh* I'll ask her about it today after school. Where's Drew when you need him?_


	8. Chapter 8

Chapter 8

She hated him. She wanted him to fall off a cliff and float down a river for days and days until someone finds his body. She should put a restraining order on him. It also helped that her father was in the military. And she knew that his rank was pretty high. She smirked. Maybe she can get her father to draft him. Could they do that nowadays? 

She looked into the back mirror to see him looking right back at her. _That stupid ass! How the hell could he do this to me?_ The school probably thought she was some kind of slut or something. A slut who pretended like she hated him but when actually she wanted to shove her tongue down his throat. Oh yeah, Serena could just see it now. She could just see herself walking through the hallways tomorrow and hearing, "That's Serena! The school slut!"

Serena narrowed her eyes at Darien's face in the back mirror. It was all his fault. Why the hell did he look so hot? Serena quickly looked ahead at the road as her eyes widened. She didn't like him. His ego was brainwashing her. She wanted to walk up to him and slap him like there was no tomorrow. Serena sighed. If he were at least ugly, then it would be so much easier. 

Parking her car in the garage, Serena stepped out of her car and slammed the door.

"Hey, sweet car," said Darien when he got out of his sports car. 

__

That bastard, he's trying to make amends! "Whatever," she retorted.

"Sere, look, I'm sorry for whatever I did-"

She stopped him in mid sentence and glared at him, "Can we just forget about what happened today and just concentrate on what's really important?" When he gave her a confused look, she rolled her eyes and said, annoyed, "The project?"

"Oh," said Darien while frowning, "right, the project." He felt that same pang in his heart again as he heard her telling him to forget about the kiss. "Can you at least tell me what I did wrong?"

Serena snorted and looked up at the sky, "Unbelievable." She gave a short laugh, "Absolutely unbelievable. You know what, Darien? Why don't you go home after the meeting, lie down on your bed, close your eyes, and think? Can you at least do that?"

Darien narrowed his eyes. She was mocking him! "Anything for you, Sere, anything for you."

"Dude! Are you guys just gonna stand there having a staring contest or are you gonna actually come in?" Andrew shouted from the balcony of Serena's room. 

Both of their faces shot up to where Andrew's voice was coming from. 

Darien smiled and waved, "Be right up, Drew!"

"By the way, Serena, is that your car?" Andrew questioned, ogling at her Porsche as if it was a pot of gold.

"Yeah," Serena carelessly replied. 

"SWEET! Dudette! You gotta let me test drive it sometime!"

Serena smiled, amused, "Sure, Andy, anything for you, right?"

Darien clenched his jaw and raised an eyebrow. "Andy"? What kind of nickname was that? It sounded like some little kid who lives on a farm and raises pigs for life. Since when was Andrew "Andy" to Serena? And what did she mean by "anything for you"? When did she become his best friend's slave? Just because he commented on her car…he said "sweet", too. _I guess I didn't say it with enough gusto_, he bitterly thought.

"Hey, man, are you there?"

Darien snapped out of his jealousy to see Andrew leaning half way over the railing. Now if he just leaned over a bit more…Oh God! What the fuck was wrong with him?! 

"Uh…yeah…I'm still here," Darien managed to stutter out, "SO…let's get started!" He rubbed his hands together and walked to the door. 

"O true apothecary, thy drugs are quick!"

"CUT!" 

Darien sighed, exasperated, and dragged his hand through his hair, "What now, Drew?"

"Darien, my man, Darien," Andrew slowly said as he shook his head from side to side, "What are we going to do with you? You're not getting into it, Dare! Say it with more feeling, more passion, uh, what's the word…more, uh…gusto!"

Darien rolled his eyes inwardly. "Fine, I'll try harder, happy?"

"Oh! I know!" Andrew exclaimed, "you can act like you swallowed some bad tasting stuff that's like, really poisonous!" 

Darien snickered while Serena raised her head from her laying position to give Andrew a weird look. It was Serena who spoke up first, "Sorry to tell you Andy, but that's what actually happens."

Andrew laughed, "I knew there was an answer for why that was in the back of my head." 

It continued like that until Andrew got a page from his mom about dinner. Serena inwardly thanked the gods when Andrew's pager beeped. That beep meant more to Serena than a shopping spree. It signaled the end of this stuffy session, which signaled the time for Mr. Cocky to leave. She definitely couldn't stay in the same room with him for more than 3 hours. It was uncomfortable enough for Serena to have him stare at her in a classroom full of people, but it was even more uncomfortable to have him stare at her in her bedroom while hovering over her head. 

Andrew picked up his books to leave. 

"I'll walk you downstairs," Serena offered, trying to get far away from Darien as possible. 

"Wait up," Darien said. 

Oh Great. 

Serena waved a good-bye as Andrew drove away.

Oh Wonderful. Just peachy now that she was alone with Darien.

"Serena, I still want to talk to you about what happened in class today."

"Look," Serena started, "I told you to forget about that. Get over it, 'cause I already have."

Darien snagged her around the waist and pulled her closer. Serena sucked in a breath. 

"Are you sure you've already forgotten it? That's an awfully big thing to forget for such a smart person," he said, his lips barely touching her ear. "Now, tell me, Sere, did you actually forget?"

"Y-yes," Serena blushed while managing to stutter a lame answer.

Darien smirked and started to chuckle. "Really, then I guess I'm going to have to give you an even better one," he whispered and smirked. Before she could even utter a word, his lips came crashing down on her mouth. Darien hadn't seen the fireworks until now. The only fireworks that he actually felt before were during his first kiss when he was actually nervous about kissing a girl. This was like his first kiss all over again, except this time he felt the tightness of his pants. When he had her practically melting in his arms, he broke the kiss and lowered his mouth onto her neck. Then he slowly moved to her ear and whispered, "I'll pick you up for the dance at 8." He pulled back before she could feel anything on her stomach. 

Serena opened her cloudy eyes half way. Serena's mind was still hazy and couldn't comprehend what just had happened. "Huh?" By then Darien was already driving away. 

__

Oh no…

__

Whoa, that was pretty close. _I almost let her know of Little Darien down here. *Smirk* But I got her to agree to go to the dance with me… Better call Drew._

"Yeah?"

"I have to tell you something."

Andrew's voice became serious, "What's wrong? Is it anything serious?"

"Nah, nothing like that, Drew. Something happened in English class today. Between me and Sere." 

"Ah…so that's why she looked kinda mad."

"I kissed her."

"You what?! Against her will? Dude, that's seriously wrong-"

Darien interrupted quickly, "NO! Not against her will. She kissed me back."

"Phew," Andrew sounded relieved. "But then, why was she mad at you today?"

"That's exactly what I want to know! I swear I didn't do anything, Drew! When we broke apart, she was mad at me!"

"Holy shit! Oh fuck!" There were sounds of tires screeching.

"I know! Can you believe her? Mad at me for no reas-"

"Dude," said Andrew, breathing quickly, "you gotta repeat that, I almost ran over something furry."

Darien rolled his eyes. "I said," he started slowly, talking like he would to a kindergartner, "that's exactly what I want to know, I didn't do anything, and when we broke apart she was mad. Can you believe her? She's mad at me for no reason!"

"Dare, Dare, Dare," said Andrew, shaking his head. "When are you ever going to master the complicated minds of women?"

Darien's eyebrow rose.

"Did you kiss her in front of the whole class?"

"Uh…I guess so."

"There's the problem! You embarrassed her, dumbass! In front of the whole class! So I suggest that you get her presents or something tomorrow before your chances with her becomes negative fifty."

Darien was too busy thinking about what to get her that he let his "dumbass" comment slide. "Thanks, Drew, you're a lifesaver."

"You should learn from the master, Dare. I know all. I've learned the ways from my years and year of practice. You see—hello? Darien? Hello? Are you there? Dude?" 

*BEEP* *BEEP* *BEEP* *BEEP*

Serena groggily woke up on Thursday morning. She got up and slammed the snooze button. She shuddered to think what would happen at class today because of that little accident the other day. She would take on any three-headed dog than face Darien's vicious fan club. _Girls can be _so_ evil sometimes._ She would have to tell Darien that she wasn't going to the dance with him. _I wonder if his fan club will love me for not going with him or kill me for "hurting" his feelings… _

She dressed quickly into a jean skirt and white halter with a jean jacket over it. The school took way too much advantage of the air conditioners. She slipped into her Candies four-inch sandals.

"Morning, Dad," said Serena as she walked down the stairs. 

"Morning," he called back, not letting his eyes stray from the newspaper. 

"Bye, Dad," called out Serena just before she slammed the door. 

Serena didn't know what to expect today. Especially since she was now the new school slut. _Well, I suppose someone has to be one and that person is me_, she mused. When she arrived at school, she took a deep breath and stepped out of her car. 

Just as she expected, she received a lot of points and stares from her fellow students while walking through the dreaded halls of hell. She also heard many whispers about her as well. They were along the lines of "That's the Serena girl that made out with Darien during class!" or "Right in class! Can you believe it?" or even "I wonder if she's free?". Just then Raye stomped up to her looking quite angry about something. 

"You. How dare you."

Serena started turning the dial of her locker. "Yeah. Me. How dare I what?" She was looking very uninterested and fought down a yawn. 

"Do you actually think you have a chance with him?" Raye's eyes glinted dangerously under the florescent light of the hallways. 

"With who?"

Raye scowled even further, "Don't play dumb with me, little girl. You know exactly who I'm talking about."

Serena only paused for a split second when turning the dial as she heard Raye call her, "little girl". She chose to ignore her and opened her locker. She impatiently shoved her books and binders into her backpack, not being able to wait to get to her next class where she would be away from this wannabe lover of that egotistical bastard. 

"Stay away from him, Lovette. Besides, you don't think you have a chance with him do you?" Raye gave a shrill laugh, "'Cause that would be funny."

Serena rolled her eyes, "And you think YOU have a chance with him?"

"Of course I do," she smiled cockily, "why else would Darien ask me to the dance next Friday?"

Letting an exasperated sigh, she murmured, "You wish," before walking away. Serena already knew whom he asked to the dance because it was none other than herself. She started to walk away when she felt a hand grab her arm tightly.

"Did you say something?" Raye narrowed her eyes at Serena. 

Serena has just about had it with this girl! Who did she think she was, just because she was the captain of some cheerleading squad!

Serena tried to calm herself down by taking a few deep breaths, but that plan flew out the window when Raye tightened her hold on her. 

"Listen, you psycho-bitch, I don't care if you get together with Darien or not. Just. Stay. Away. From. Me." She yanked her arm back and stalked away. She had to admit the expression on Raye's face was priceless. 

Serena's thoughts were interrupted by someone walking up to her side. Clapping was followed. "Nice performance."

Serena, knowing who it was, sped up her pace and muttered coldly, "What do you want, Shockcor?"

"Only for you to grace me with your presence." He had on his all-too-familiar cocky expression.

"Well, sorry to disappoint you, but I have to get to my next class." 

Serena sped up her pace even more so that it as if she was in a power-walking contest. Darien jogged up beside her with a smirk. Before she could say anything, he pulled out from behind his back a bouquet of a dozen red roses. Serena stared at them, speechless. She accepted them and brought them up to her nose. There was a trace of a pink hue on her cheeks.

"Thank you," she said softly and looked away, blushing. She would have never thought that he was a guy who was considerate enough to give a girl a bouquet. She didn't even know that roses grew on Hawaii. They might have been imported, and if they were, then it would have been very expensive. Maybe she was wrong about Darien… 

"You don't have to be shy around me just 'cause I'm your date, Sere." _Then again, maybe not. He didn't even say, "you're welcome" or "I'm sorry"!_

Serena abruptly stopped walking as the words sunk in. She turned around to find Darien already at the other end of the hallway. She forgot to tell him that she wasn't going to the dance with him. Darien had run the other direction after his comment. He didn't want her to ruin the beautiful day by telling him that she wasn't going with him. He knew she thought that now, but it was just a matter of time… He grinned and waved at her.

"Looking forward to that kiss, Juliet!" This shout got the attention of just about everyone in the halls. 

Serena was reminded of the scene that they would have to rehearse in English class that was coming up soon. Serena's face flushed red, not only of embarrassment but also anger at him for shouting such a comment in front of their peers. Right now, Serena was certain that her status was dropping even lower. She sighed. She could tell already that this day would not be a very good day for her. 

*Tick* *tock* *tick* *tock*

__

Damn you, why do you have to move so quickly? Serena mentally cursed at the hands of the clock. Her next class was the one she dreaded the most. English. 

*Bell rings*

Serena turned her horrified eyes to the black speaker on the wall above the clock. She walked to the English class like a person walking to get beheaded. 

Sitting down in her desk, she buried her head in her arms, trying to block out everything. The noise, the teacher, and Darien. Andrew and Darien wanted over to her, talking to each other. Andrew looked at Serena. 

"Are you feeling okay, Sere?"

Serena had an extremely powerful urge to tell him, "no", but said, "yes", when she remembered that Andrew desperately need a good grade. Seeing as this was the last rehearsal, Serena tried to cheer herself up by reminding herself of when this would all be over. 

"So, I've been thinking and I noticed that we haven't practiced the kissing scene," said Darien while smiling wickedly. 

Serena felt absolutely terrified, but at the same time, eager. She decided to go with terrified. 

"NO, NO, NO!" She fervently said. "Uh…what if the teacher doesn't like it?"

Andrew pondered the thought for a moment. "Come to think of it, Dare, she's right. And besides, why would you guys need to practice kissing? I'm sure we've all done it before. It's not like you guys are gonna french and who doesn't know how to peck a person on the lips? We've all done that since we were children and—FUCK!" Andrew's hands flew to his shin which was showing the signs of a bruise. He looked up at Darien questioningly to see him glaring at him. Then it finally clicked, "Oh… But then again, maybe you guys should practice it—"

"What! Why?!" Serena screeched. 

"Because, er…because…he might miss or something! I mean, you don't want him to slobber all over your nose do you? Anyone's spit up your nose is just nast- HOT DAMN!" Andrew shouted as he gave a mean glare to Darien.

"MR. TAYLOR! WATCH YOUR LANGUAGE! This is English class for goodness sake! One more time and I am going to have to give you detention!"

"Sorry, ma'am," said Andrew sheepishly. 

Darien snickered, "Hot damn?"

Thirty minutes later Serena found herself cursing at the clock again, but this time for being too slow. _Come on, bell, ring bell, ring!_ She was lying down on five desks pushed up against each other in a row, eyes shut tight. 

"And thus, with a kiss, I die." This was the vile sentence that cued the kiss. _Ring damn it!_ Serena crossed her fingers. Darien was inches from Serena's face.

*BELL RINGS*

__

THANK YOU, GOD!

"NOT AGAIN! DAMN IT!" Serena opened her eyes to find Darien looking very frustrated and about to rip his hair out. She sat up and was about to get off when Darien grabbed her by the shoulders and pushed her down back on the desk/bed. 

"Oh no you don't," he muttered. Before Serena could protest, his lips came crashing down on hers. When Darien broke the kiss, Serena's eyes were wide as saucers. Serena sat up, gaping at Darien's form walking away. 

The end of the day finally approached after what it seemed like a thousand years to Serena. She tiredly packed her bag and was about to stuff her roses in when she noticed a note that was attached. She plucked it from the bouquet and opened it. It was a simple message that made her smile while it still showed his cocky personality.

__

You're welcome. I'm sorry.

AU: hey, I was wondering, do you want this story to be a little long or medium or short? B/c I think I'm dawdling a little. I think this story will be too long if I keep doing this… I don't know what you guys want but I think I'm gonna go for 15 or 16 chapters or somewhere around there, unless anyone wants something else.


	9. Chapter 9

Chapter 9

*ring* *ring* 

"Hello?"

"OH MY GOD, RENA! I CAN'T BELIEVE YOU DIDN'T TELL ME!" Mina screamed excitedly over the phone.

Serena flinched from the volume, "Tell you what?"

"THAT YOU'RE GOING OUT WITH DARIEN SHOCKCOR!"

Serena dropped the pencil she was writing her essay with. "I'm what?"

Mina sighed, exasperated, "Going out with Darien Shockcor, duh! Oh my god, you should have seen Raye's face! It was a total kodak moment. You should've been there—"

"Hold on a sec, I'm not going out with Darien, what are you talking about?" Serena questioned almost fearfully. 

Mina seemed to calm down a little, but still sounded doubtful. "What do you mean you're not? Your whole English class saw you two kissing like a million times! And rumor has it that you guys are going to the up coming dance together. This dance is the most important dance of the year, you know. I heard that the prom is usually a total bummer—"

Serena interrupted, "Mina! I didn't kiss him a million times!"

"You…didn't?" She said, sounding disappointed.

"I only kissed him twice in front of them!"

Mina's face broke out into a grin, "So…you did kiss him! You go, girl!"

"Mina! It's only because of the whole Romeo and Juliet project thing!" Serena lied.

"Sure, that's what they all say," said Mina slyly. 

Serena rolled her eyes, "But I still don't know if I'm going to accept his offer on the 'most important dance of the year'."

"Rena!" Mina gasped, "If you don't accept, then I'm seriously going to sneak into your room tonight and…um…shave off your eyebrows, missy!" 

Serena's eyebrow rose, "Shave off my eyebrows?" She laughed, "Talk about creepy!"

Laughing along with her, Mina said jokingly, "Yeah, well, that's only the beginning."

After their laughter ceased, Serena said seriously, "I don't know what I should do, Mina."

"Well, do you want to go with him? Even a little?"

Serena hesitated before answering, "No…yes…I don't know! Every time I'm around him, I feel like strangling him and kissing him at the same time!" She yelled in frustration. 

"Rena, you should go if you want to go even a little. You don't want to spend the rest of your life wondering what would've happened if you went to the dance with him, do you? Go! Or you'll regret it BIG TIME."

Serena thought about it for a moment then decided that was the best thing to do. Mina had a point. She didn't want to be a lonely old lady day dreaming about what could have been if she only decided to go. 

"You are absolutely right. I should go."

"I know I'm right," she giggled, "you are going to have a great time. Trust me. If it goes wrong, then I'll poke Darien's eyes out with a rusty spoon and stab him a thousand times with a dull butter knife and—" 

"Uh, Mina?"

"Yeah?"

"Rusty spoon and dull butter knife?"

"What? It makes me sound less violent that way!"

Serena banged her hand on the locker in frustration. _Damn it._ She was about to band on the locker again when she heard his cocky voice.

"Damn, baby. I'm beginning to think that you're purposely getting your locker stuck to get me to help you," said Darien, smirking as he banged on the locker twice with the side of his fist. 

Serena narrowed her eyes at the comment, while glaring at the now opened locker.

"Well don't get your hopes up, Shockcor."

They walked together to their classroom in silence when Serena stopped before the entrance. 

"Listen," she began, "about the dance…"

Darien immediately assumed that she was going to say no. 

"Oh, come on! Don't tell me you're too chicken to go," said Darien, trying to cover up his disappointment with a smirk. 

"If you'd have let me finish, you would've heard me say that I'll go," she said, annoyed. 

Darien blinked but quickly regained his composure, barely able to hide his happiness. "Great! That's great." 

"Okay," replied Serena, not having anything to say. _'Okay'? What am I, dumb?_

They stood there in awkward silence until Darien spoke up jokingly to lighten the mood.

"So, are we going to go in or stand here and grow old?"

Serena rolled her eyes, and said exasperated, "Yes. In. Now." 

"You know, if you'd have said that when you were inviting me into your house and not a classroom full of people, it would have been much more kinkier." 

"Shut up."

"I will if you'll make me."

"What do you want me to do, spank you?"

"Ooh, kinky."

"Ugh, I led myself right into that one."

"Actually, you inviting me into a classroom full of people is kinky, too. So public, so many possibilities." He winked suggestively. 

"Gross! Shut the hell up! And stop using the word, 'kinky'!"

Serena got into her car and started to drive toward her house. The performance went pretty well for Serena except for the fact that practically all the girls in the class were giving her murderous looks. She was thinking about the dance. She didn't know what was going to happen with Darien. He was certainly not her type. He was nothing like her type. He was arrogant, selfish, perverted, and incorrigible. But then why did she agree to go with him? She had absolutely no idea. For all she knew he could go to the dance with her and dump her like 4th period French the next day. 

During the middle of her pondering, it took her a while to realize that she had no idea how to dress up for the dance. She had no clue as to if the dance was formal or informal. Even if she knew, she still had nothing to wear! Panicked, she took out her cell phone out of her bag and started to dial Mina's number until she remembered that she probably wasn't even home yet. She exhaled slowly and forced herself to calm down. 

After she arrived at her house, she ran up to her room and dialed Mina's number, hoping that she would be home. However, her hope was squashed when her answering machine picked up.

__

"Hi! I'm out right now so leave a message, 'kay?" 

*BEEP*

"Hey, Mina, it's Serena. It's an emergency so you just _have_ to call me back ASAP."

A minute after Serena hung up, her phone rang. She quickly picked it up.

"Mina?"

"Sorry to disappoint you, babe, but I don't think I'll grow breasts any time soon."

Serena was disappointed that it wasn't Mina but still a little excited that it was Darien. 

"Oh. It's just you," said Serena pretending to be disappointed. She couldn't let him think that he was getting to her. 

"You wound me, Sere."

Serena rolled her eyes wearily and plopped onto her bed.

"Ow!" 

"What's wrong? Are you hurt?" Was there alarm and concern in Darien voice or was she just hallucinating?

"I'm fine, it's nothing. I just banged my head on the headboard."

Darien started to smirk. He couldn't hold back on a chance like this. 

"I can go over there and we can do some banging on the headboard together."

"You are so impossible!" 

"Sorry," he grinned, "I couldn't resist."

"Why is it that you turn everything I say into something sexual?" 

"I guess I'm just talented," he said jokingly. 

"Uh huh," said Serena, half amused and half annoyed. "Anyway, I have to get off soon. I'm waiting for a call from a friend."

"Right. Before you go, I just want to remind you that I'll pick you up at 8."

"Oh yeah. I've been meaning to ask someone. Is this a formal or a casual dance?"

"Semi-formal."

"Oh."

"Don't worry, Sere. You'll look beautiful in anything."

Serena blushed. "Thanks."

"That's not a compliment."

Confused, Serena stuttered out a puzzled response.

"What?"

"That's a fact."

In all her life, that was the sweetest thing that anyone had ever said to her. She had to admit that she was shocked by the sincerity in his voice. She smiled. Maybe there _was_ something in Darien Shockcor after all. 


	10. Chapter 10

Chapter 10

"So how does it feel to be Darien's girlfriend?"

"I would hardly call myself that, Mina," said Serena as they continued their search for the perfect dresses. 

"Why not?"

"'Cause, well, we haven't even been on a date, which is what couples do and I'm not even sure I like him."

Mina suddenly burst into laughter.

"You're kidding me, right? Oh come on, Rena! Every girl in the school is in love with him! He's practically the king of the whole school!"

"That's especially why I'm not 'in love with him'! Even though he acts like an actual human being once in a while, he still acts like he owns the school." They were total opposites and he got on her nerves way too much.

"That's because he practically DOES own the school. He's gorgeous, the most popular guy and captain of the football team. Jeez, Serena! You are so freakin' blind!"

"No I'm not! If anyone's blind, you are."

Mina looked at her in a matter-of-fact way and said, "Stop trying to deny it Serena, you love the guy and you know it. Denial is not just a river in Egypt."

"Mina," Serena started, aggravated, "I am not in love with Darien, okay? I mean, sure, there's some attraction-"

"Ah hah! So you admit to at least liking him!"

"-and sure he WAS nice this one time, I don't know, maybe he was drunk, but that doesn't mean that I'm head over heels in love. It's just a crush that'll go away in a week. Besides, I have every reason to believe that Darien is incapable of a relationship that isn't based on looks or sex."

"Whatever. Deny all you want. You're going to realize sooner or later."

Serena paused looking through the different dresses on the rack. Maybe Mina was right. Maybe it was something more than a crush. After all, she did feel something different in the air when she was around him. Then again it was probably his bloated ego. 

It wasn't until 3 hours later when they had found the perfect dresses for the dance. Serena had wanted to buy a simple, modest dress, but Mina had induced her to buy a dress that exposed more skin. She had no choice but to give in, as she was tired from all the walking they had done in the mall. 

Exhausted, Serena lowered herself into the bathtub, letting the warm water wash over while the vanilla scent of the bubble bath wafted in the air. This was something she could definitely get used to. She sank deeper into the tub when all the tension in her muscles released. She closed her eyes and was about to pick up a book when the doorbell rang.

Eyeing the tub filled with bubbles and sighing wistfully, Serena stood up and searched for her bathrobe. The doorbell rang again. Giving up on her search, she wrapped a towel around herself and yelled, "Just a second!" She walked down the stairs and swung open the door. Seeing the person outside almost made her jump in surprise. 

"Well, isn't this an interesting position to be in." He was simply hoping to see her face but it turned out he got more than what he bargained for. Seeing Serena in a towel was something he was definitely not expecting to see when she first opened the door. 

"Darien! What are you doing here?!" 

"I was just in the neighborhood, and a good thing that is, too, or else I would have let someone else ring the doorbell and see you in a towel." 

Serena looked down at herself. She flushed a bright red hue and tried to conceal herself behind the door. 

"Oh," she finished lamely, trying to change her face back to its normal hue.

"So are you going to invite me in or not?" Darien questioned after getting the reaction he hoped to get, looking thoroughly amused.

"No, why should I?" Serena shot back, still a little angry with herself for giving him the satisfaction of seeing her embarrassed. 

Darien grinned mischievously, "Because I have the grade report for our English project." 

"Yeah, right. We just presented it yesterday, remember?" She spoke as if she was speaking to a little kindergartner. 

"Yes, but she said that the groups who presented that day could pick up their grades after school, remember?" He said, mirroring her tone of voice. 

Serena suddenly widened her eyes in realization. 

"Now you remember," said Darien as a smirk started to form on his lips. 

Debating whether or not letting Darien in her house when she was indecent was worth it to see her grade, she stood at the door chewing her bottom lip. She looked at Darien and narrowed her eyes. _He'd better not try to do anything. _But Serena knew that he probably would, him being, well, him. 

"Fine, you can come in. But only for a sec." 

Serena moved out of the way to let him in. Darien looked around her house and whistled in admiration. He didn't really stop to appreciate the house last time he was here because he was too worried about Serena being angry with him. He had no idea she was this rich. Then again, he had no idea about a lot of things about her. 

"Nice house, Sere."

"Thanks."

"It's big."

"I know," she retorted annoyed.

"It's huge."

"That's great, now hand me the report." 

"Bossy. I like it. It's really sexy on you."

Seeing as she wasn't going to go anywhere like this, she snatched the piece of paper from his hands. She scanned over the rubric. Minus a couple of points here and there, her group got an overall good grade: A-. _Not bad at all. _

"Okay, I'm done. Leave." 

"Wait, before I leave," Darien started with hope in his eyes, "I was wondering if you could come over to my house tomorrow so we can watch a movie or something."

Serena rolled her eyes and said icily, "Let me guess, your house is empty for the night and you want me to come over so you can worm your way into my shorts."

Darien put his hands up. "I just want to get to know you better. You're going to be my date for the dance and I don't know that much about you at all. My intentions are one hundred percent pure. I swear Serena. "

She looked at his eyes for a minute and searched for any kind of sign that would tell her that he was lying. Seeing that he looked truly sincere about this, she thought about what he had just said. It was true. She didn't know that much about him either, except that he was an egotistical, incorrigible, and narcissistic jackass. 

"Well, maybe eighty percent pure," he half-joked.

She still looked a little doubtful.

"We're going to be all alone?" It came out more as a statement than as a question.

Darien smirked, "What's the matter, Sere? Afraid you won't be able to resist my charm and sex appeal?"

Serena frowned, "Fine, I'll go. What time?"

Darien couldn't believe his own ears. Did Serena Lovette actually agree to come over to his house? That was almost way too easy. While Darien remained cool on the outside, his mind was doing a happy dance inside. This was probably the first time that he was actually uncertain about himself since he asked a girl to his first date.

"Seven."

"Okay, bye."

"Hey, what's the rush?" Darien asked, confused. 

An irritated Serena answered back, "The rush is that I have to get back to my bubble bath before all the bubbles are gone."

"So that would explain the attire," said Darien as he looked up and down her length appreciatively. 

Serena flushed again. "You know, you can leave now."

"Mind if I join you upstairs?"

"NO! Now go away!" She said, looking flustered. 

"Come on, Sere, it'll be a _banging_ way to spend Saturday night." He looked at her seductively and wiggled his eyebrows.

Serena blushed furiously. Only someone like Darien would come up with a pun like that. 

"Go before I change my mind, Darien," she said sternly as she pushed him out the door. 

"I'll pick you up at seven."

"Just because I'm a girl, that doesn't mean I can't drive myself," said Serena, peeved. 

"No, it's just that you don't know where I live," said Darien, smirking.

Serena searched for what to say and stammered out a retort. 

"Shut up." _Nice one, Serena, _she thought sarcastically.

"You must be losing your touch, Sere." 

Serena scowled and slammed the door in his face. _The nerve of that idiot!_

She didn't even know why she agreed in the first place. So what if they didn't know each other? That didn't stop Darien from getting other girls into bed. It sounded as if he was telling the truth about having pure intentions but she couldn't help doubting him. She had no idea if he got all the other girls to sleep with him that way or not. One thing was for sure, she was not going to fall for him. Ever. 

*Ding Dong*

At the sound of the doorbell, Serena went downstairs and opened the door to reveal Darien, decked out in khaki shorts and a white shirt with a Hawaiian flower print, navy button up shirt over it. 

"Hey," said Serena, standing at the door.

"You look," Darien started to say but couldn't find the word, "glittery." _Great going, you big dope._

"Um…thanks," she said awkwardly. She was wearing a sparkly white halter with low-rise jeans. 

"Right…so, ready to go?"

"Yeah."

They were walking to his car, when she suddenly stopped and looked at him. 

"Darien?"

"Yeah?"

"Your car is really…glittery," she said dramatically and laughed. 

"Aw, come on! I was really trying back there!"

"And all you could come up with was 'glittery'? Nice, Shockcor, real nice."

"I only try my best for the best." He gave her one of his dazzling, knight-in-shining-armor smiles and opened the car door for her.

With a small smile on her face, Serena just rolled her eyes and got in. 

"So, what do you want to watch?"

"I want to watch 'A Walk To Remember'."

"Are you serious?" Darien raised his eyebrow. "We are not watching a sappy chick flick."

"I'm dead serious. It's such a sad movie!"

Darien rolled his eyes, "It's such a stereotypical sad ending. Boy meets girl. Boy falls in love with girl. Boy finds out girl has leukemia. Girl dies. Boy is sad."

Now it was Serena's turn to roll her eyes. 

"Then what do _you_ suggest, Mr. Genius?"

"That's easy. 'Silence of the lambs'." He smirked. Since it was a scary movie, she would have no choice but to seek refuge to him. She will probably hide her face in his shirt the whole time. "It's the ultimate scary movie."

"Figures."

"What? It's a classic!"

"That is so guy of you." 

"Thank you."

"Ugh."

Ten minutes later, they decided on a neutral movie. _Fast and the Furious._ Cars for Darien and Paul Walker for Serena. Serena lay on the couch and Darien sat on the floor near Serena's feet with his back resting on the couch.

"I don't know what you see in Paul Walker. I mean, what does he have that I don't have?"

"He's hot."

"So what does he have that I don't have?"

"Well, there's the fact that he's famous and he can act."

"Whatever. Even I can act better than him."

Serena laughed, "You so can't." She threw popcorn at his head.

"I can too," he said after catching with his mouth.

"You wish," she said, smiling.

"I don't have to."

After watching the movie, or rather bantering through it, Serena decided to strike up a conversation.

"So, where are your parents?"

"They're dead. I live with my aunt. She's at a friend's house." His voice was monotonous and his expression was blank. 

Serena didn't know what to say. "Oh. I-I'm sorry." She had no idea that Darien didn't have any parents. She thought that having a dad but not seeing him was bad enough but…

"It's okay. I didn't even know them anyway." Darien redirected the conversation. He didn't want her to like him because he didn't have any parents. He wanted her to like him by _his_ actions only. "So your dad's in the army?"

"Yeah. He doesn't really tell me much about his work though. Army, navy, who knows? Besides, he's not around much. He's too occupied with his work."

"And your mom?"

Serena lowered her eyes. She was hoping he wouldn't ask about her mom. 

"You don't have to answer it if you don't want to," said Darien, sounding concerned.

After a long silence, Serena spoke. "She died in a car crash when I was 12."

"I'm sorry." There was another pause. "I can't imagine how you're feeling, I mean, you actually knew your parents." 

She was surprised by how he sounded like he actually cared. It felt good that he sympathized with her instead of feeling sorry for her. Most of the people she met felt pity for her. 

"Why did you move here?" Darien steered the conversation in another direction once again. 

"My dad. He had to transfer. Again."

"I'm thinking this happens a lot."

"That's the biggest understatement of the year," she snorted. 

Then it suddenly struck Darien that she wouldn't be staying here for long.

"How long are you staying here for?" He asked nervously. All he could think about was "what if she moves away before she gets to know me?" and "what if she moves away and I never get to see her again?" All these what if's were floating in his mind, making him more nervous by the second. 

"I don't know. For a while I guess. Maybe I'll get to stay for the rest of the school year. I can't wait until college. I get my own apartment then. And I wouldn't have to follow him around."

He inwardly sighed in relief. 

"Yeah. I can't wait till college either. What college are you thinking about going to?" Darien asked, hoping that he might see her again in college.

"UC Berkley."

"Really?" Darien was thinking about the application he sent to UC Berkley. "Maybe I'll see you there."

Serena raised an eyebrow. "You're going to UC Berkley? You know, stalking is illegal in all fifty states, Darien."

"Yes, I'm going to UC Berkley. Is that really unbelievable?"

"I just pegged you as the partying type."

"I am. But there's more to me than my six pack and my gorgeous face," he grinned lopsidedly.

"How modest of you," she said sarcastically, but all the while smiling. 

"And besides, I decided to spare you the pain of not seeing my sexy body."

"You know that I can't live without you," said Serena with a bored voice.

Darien smirked, "Ah, the truth comes out."

"Maybe we can even share an apartment."

Serena gave him an amused look. 

"It's okay if you don't want to share one, Sere. I already know that you can't keep your hands off of me," said Darien, still smirking.

She laughed, "Right…"

The night came to an end and they found themselves standing in front of her house.

"I had fun tonight," said Serena, giving him a small smile. 

"Me, too. Mind if I kiss you good-night?" 

"Of course." As soon as she finished, he grabbed her waist and crushed his lips against hers. He ran his tongue over her lip and she opened her mouth. Serena moaned, enjoying the feeling of his tongue massaging hers. He broke away and moved down to her neck. Serena closed her eyes and sighed at the sensation. Darien moved on to her ear and lightly nibbled on it. He whispered into her ear, his breath making her shiver.

"I better go before something happens."

Serena opened her eyes to stare into his.

"Besides," he said grinning, "I promised you eighty percent pure intentions, remember?"

Serena blushed. 

"See you at school tomorrow, Sere." He gave her a small kiss.

"See you," she said, watching his form walk to his car. 

She plopped down on her bed after she got inside. She thought that he would probably break his promise, but he surprised her. She was beginning to like him even more. He actually listened to what she was saying and he genuinely seemed to care. She liked the fact that she could be comfortable around him, well, at least when he wasn't throwing sexual innuendoes at her, and that he could make her laugh. After tonight, she guessed that his careless, King-of-the-World attitude was just a mask to live up to his reputation. Who knows, maybe getting to know him a little more would be worth while. 


	11. Chapter 11

Serena sat with her friends at the lunch table outdoors, discussing the dance. She couldn't believe that the day had finally come. She would actually go to the dance with Darien Shockcor. At least she wouldn't be alone. She was glad that she got Darien to get Andrew to ask Mina to the dance. She wouldn't have to suffer all alone. But then again, Mina would probably be too busy drooling over Andrew to give her the support that she would definitely need. She wondered if it was too late to back out…

"OH MY GOD! This is the moment we've all been waiting for!"

"Stop being so overdramatic, Mina! Besides, no one wants to lose their hearing right before the dance," Lita rolled her eyes.

"Sorry," said Mina, bouncing up and down with joy, "but I'm like, SO excited! I just CAN'T believe I'm going to the dance with Andrew!"

The girls all rolled their eyes together.

Amy spoke up, "Mina, you've told us that a million times already."

"No, only like, 10 times…" 

"I know," said Amy, "I was just merely using a hyperbole because that is how many times it felt like you said it."

Mina looked confused, "Hyper what?"

"Nevermind," the girls all chimed in together.

Mina looked at them for a while before turning to Serena.

"Rena, we are going to be the talk of the whole entire school!" She squealed.

Lita looked at Serena wistfully, "You are so lucky, Serena! Darien is so perfect."

"I totally second that!" Mina said excitedly. 

Serena was getting sick of people telling her that she was so lucky to be going with Darien. Why was it such a big deal anyway? He was just a guy who has good looks. That shouldn't make him perfect. Looks didn't really mean that much to Serena. Well, looks did matter, in reality. Of course, if Darien was REALLY ugly, she would reconsider going to the dance with him, but she didn't need him to be hot or even good-looking. That was just an added bonus. 

"Hello? Rena?" Serena snapped back to reality and found herself looking into a pair of big, blue eyes.

"AH!" She screamed. "Don't do that!"

Mina giggled, "Sorry. I was just asking you if it was all right if Andrew and I went to your house before the dance so the four of us could get there together."

Serena didn't even stop to think. 

"Yes! I mean…That's all right." It was more than all right. She could skip the awkward silence part with Darien and they could just go to the dance quickly without him making her uncomfortable by flirting with her. She didn't want him to flirt with her. He flirted with her because it brought him some kind of sick pleasure. It was definitely good that Darien won't have time to flirt with her…right?

Mina squealed again even louder, "THIS IS GOING TO BE GREAT!"

He sat with him friends at a round table with his friends. As usual, they were talking about girls, football, food and girls. Today was the big day for him and Serena, but lately he had been stressed because of his friends. Darien was sick and tired of being the biggest player in this school. He wanted Serena to be comfortable around him and trust him. But he couldn't get her to do that unless his friends stop treating him like the pimp of all pimps. He sighed and ran his hands through messy hair. He definitely needed a smoke. 

"Oh man, Dare, you've got yourself quite a catch," said Jake, patting Darien on the back.

"Hey, dude," said Andrew, snickering, "have you thought about what you're gonna do with her _after_ the dance?"

The guys, all grinning, looked at Darien expectantly. Darien raised an eyebrow and leaned back in his chair. 

"Aw, come on, man! Don't tell me you haven't thought about it!"

Kevin chuckled, "When does Darien not think about sex?"

Darien forced back a rude comment and put on a smirk. 

"Hey, I never kiss and tell."

At this comment, there were boo's and aw's going around the table, making everyone in the cafeteria turn their heads in Darien's direction. After they saw whose table it was, they returned to their businesses.

"Since when does Darien Shockcor never kiss and tell?" Kevin smirked, seemingly very amused at the idea. 

"Since he found out that his _girlfriend_ is a total reject." A mocking voice sounded from behind Darien, forcing him to turn around.

"Hello, Rachel. I hope you are well?" Darien asked with a monotonous voice. 

"Thanks, sweetie! I'm fine," said Raye, not noticing that he addressed her not by her nickname as she seated herself in his lap. 

Darien sighed and inwardly rolled his eyes. This girl was like a leech; she attached herself onto him and wouldn't let go for the love of her life. This was a girl who didn't get the point very fast. He ran his hand through his hair. At this rate, he would not have been very surprised if he was completely bald by the age of thirty. 

Chad gave her a sarcastic smile and said, "Why Raye, if I didn't know any better, I would've thought you were jealous!"

Snickers were heard at the table and were soon turned into coughs when she narrowed her malicious eyes at them.

"If you think that I am jealous of that style-less freak, then you seriously need to get your heads checked. So," said Raye, turning her eyes onto Darien, "Wanna make out with a real woman?"

Darien clenched his jaw and stared her down with hard eyes. 

"Sure. In fact, I'm going to go find her right now."

He suddenly stood up, making Raye fall flat on her back on the cafeteria floor with a screech. The whole cafeteria became silent, staring upon Darien and Raye. Leaving his friends staring at his back, Darien grabbed his football letter jacket and backpack and walked out of the room.

"Smoking isn't good for you, you know," said Serena as she walked toward Darien. He was leaning on his car with his jacket flung carelessly on the hood of the car. He took a long drag and exhaled, flicking the cigarette with his finger. The ashes fell on the pavement of the parking lot. Turning his full attention toward her, he smirked.

"Don't worry about it, I'll remember to use a breath mint when we make out in my car this afternoon."

Serena rose an eyebrow. "And what makes you think that's ever going to happen?"

"Come on, Sere," said Darien open his arms wide, "you know you've been dreaming about this moment ever since you met me."

"Whatever helps you sleep at night, Darien." She took a place by his side and leaned on the car.

"Well," he grinned, "it does help me sleep at night, knowing that you are in your bed dreaming about me being naked." He grinned even further at the reaction he received. He knew that he at least planted the thought in her mind when he saw her bright pink cheeks.

"I guess I won't say anything then. I don't want to burst your little bubble." Her face seemed to be returning back to its normal color. Instead, it showed a look of concern. "I didn't know you smoked."

"I don't." He put the cigarette up to his lips and took another drag.

She stared at him. "If you call lighting a cigarette, putting it in your mouth, inhaling and then exhaling NOT smoking, then you are in need of serious help."

Darien stared back. "Well, I don't usually."

Serena gave him an amused smile, "You're doing well for a first-timer."

Darien chuckled. "I meant, I only smoke when I'm stressed."

"Why? What's wrong?"

"Stuff." He turned his head back to the front and stared off into space. 

Serena gave him a questioning look and repeated, "Stuff?" When he didn't say anything back and took a puff of the cigarette, she took his other hand in her own. This caused him to turn his head and look at her, surprised. "You can tell me. Besides, it's not like I'm going to go and tell all your friends, so…what do you mean by 'stuff'?"

He shrugged. "Stuff, you know, like…school." He gave her his infamous smirk. "It's not easy being the king of the school."

Serena agreed with him, sarcastically and feigned an understanding look. "Oh, of course." The corners of her mouth turned up. 

"And the hair. Do you know how long it took for me to get it this messy?"

"No, how long?" asked Serena, pretending to care.

"Five years." Darien shook his head, "Can you believe it?"

"NO! Really?" Serena feigned shock.

"Yeah. Yeah," said Darien shaking his head again while looking at the ground.

"I mean, this look," he said, turning fully around for her to get a good look, "no one except for me can pull it off, don't you think?"

Serena rolled her eyes and laughed, "Sure."

"And it took me years to perfect this 'smoldering' look," said Darien as he gave her his smirk. 

"Well, I guess you still haven't finished yet. It's no where near perfect."

"Really. Experience tells me the opposite." Darien dropped the cigarette after taking a few long drags and grounded it on the pavement with his shoe. He took out a pack of cigarettes and started to take another one out when Serena's hand reached out and snatched the pack from his hand.

"Tell me what's really up."

Darien leaned back on the car and turned his head towards her. "Serena."

"Yeah?"

Darien opened his mouth to begin, but quickly snapped it shut. He tried again. "Do you, do you…what do you think of me?"

Serena looked up at him, confused. "What?"

"I mean," he paused to sigh. Dragging his hand through his hair, he looked down at the ground. "What I mean is, what kind of person do you think I am?"

Serena didn't say anything for a while. "I think, that…I think that you are egotistical and chauvinistic and definitely a playboy."

At hearing this, Darien shut his eyes tightly.

"But," she began again. He opened his eyes and raised his head.

"But, I also think that you're an okay person underneath all that. You're just afraid to show it because you're worried about your reputation. Which is wrong, by the way." Serena crossed her arms and leaned on the car, looking up at the sky to avoid his smug smile.

"Aww, Sere, I knew you were in love with me."

"Hey! I never said anything about that!" She slapped him lightly on the arm as he laughed. 

"Oh, and Darien?"

"Yeah?"

"Andrew and Mina are coming over to my house before the dance so we can all get there together."

Darien stood silent and took the information in. He was definitely going to kill Drew. He was going down.

"Um…Darien? Hello?"

Darien focused back to Serena. "Uh, yeah, that's great." Drew was going to pay.

Serena was finally done curling her hair into long loose curls so that they reached her back. At least her bare back would be covered. She applied red lipstick and also black eyeliner and mascara to make her eyes look smoky. She walked in front of the mirror and took in her appearance. She wondered how in the hell she ended up buying this dress. If it weren't for Mina, she would have never even looked twice at this dress before moving on to a more suitable one. 

The dress was made of brilliant red satin which sharply contrasted with her skin. It only went down to her knees with the wavy hem of the dress making an upside down V with the tip of the upside down V on her right thigh. It was a halter dress with a very thin strap connecting to each of the two triangles in the front and tying at the back of her neck. A corner of one triangle and a corner of the other triangle were connected together and the bottoms of the triangles were carefully sewed to the rest of the dress. This neckline was therefor low enough to show some cleavage. 

She was decked in Gucci red satin sandals that were three inches high. The shoes didn't cover her feet at all except for the two narrow straps on each shoe, one over her toes and the other around her ankle. To finish off the look, she put on a choker that was made out of tiny, square-shaped diamonds joined together, a "little" gift from her grandmother on her sixteenth birthday. 

*Ding dong*

"Just a second!" Serena yelled from her room. She ran down the stairs, trying her best not to trip with her shoes. When she made it down without any injuries, she opened the front door to reveal Andrew and Mina.

"Hey guys! You guys look really nice."

"Hi! Thanks, but you look fantastic! I knew that dress was the right one for you!" said Mina as Serena closed the door behind her and Andrew. Mina was clad in a sparkly, black tube dress that flared at her knees and a pair of opened toed, three-inch heels. The dress sparkled because of the hundreds of shiny black beads embroidered into orchids at the bottom of the dress. Her hair was put up into a messy bun at the top of her head. A fake orchid was secured on the side of her head near the bun. She looked nervous standing next to Andrew Taylor, the second hottest guy in the school.

"Whoa," said Andrew, staring at Serena a bit before he noticed that Mina was giving him looks, "but Mina, man, I mean, woman, you look even hotter!" Andrew finished, with a nervous laugh. He wore what any male would wear to a semi-formal, a suit. Not quite as formal as a tuxedo, the suit was black with a white shirt that was not tucked in and had the first three buttons unbuttoned. 

"Wow, Rena, you're house is incredible," said Mina with awe.

"Yeah, wait until you see her car," said Andrew, looking as if he wanted to go see it again.

Serena resisted a smile, "Do you want to drive my car to the dance?"

Andrew let out a yell and hugged Serena tightly. "ALL RIGHT! Man, uh…I mean, woman! YOU ARE THE BEST!"

"But you gotta wait till Darien comes."

"Okay!" said Andrew, letting go of her. He looked as if he was a little child on Christmas morning. 

*Ding dong*

"YES! LET'S GO! PORSCHE, HERE I COME! YEAH BABY!"

Mina and Serena just laughed at this while Andrew flung open the door and almost knocked Darien over. 

"Whoa, man, what's up?" Darien looked a little confused dressed in a white button up shirt with the top three buttons unbuttoned and the buttons at the wrists unbuttoned. But unlike Andrew, he was only wearing black suit pants and not the jacket. He looked comfortable but formal enough. The button up shirt wasn't just a plain white dress shirt; it was decorated. He also had on a choker. It was just two black strings with a round silver coin about the size of a quarter. The coin had a bumpy surface and looked ancient. His hair was unruly as usual. When he saw Serena, he froze and just stared. His mouth formed a "wow". 

"Andrew, the dance starts in fifteen minutes, we still have time left," said Mina. "Besides," she winked, "we have to be fashionably late!"

"Drew, you don't wanna mess up our rep, right?" asked Darien as he snapped out of his stupor, pretending to be serious. At this, Andrew's shoulders drooped.

"Come on guys," said Serena, "let's just amuse Mina, okay? I have to find the car keys anyway. It's probably buried somewhere in my room."

Andrew perked up, "Want me to go with you?" At this Darien turned his head sharply to Andrew. 

"Wanna get beat up?"

"Okay…nevermind…" 

Serena glared at Darien. "Be nice."

"Who me?" asked Darien, looking innocent.

"Hey, Rena, do you mind if I get a drink?" Mina wondered into the kitchen.

"Go ahead," said Serena. She turned to Andrew and said, "I'll go get the keys right now." She walked up the stairs, oblivious to the boys staring at her back.

"Dude, Rena looks hot," said Andrew, still staring at her retreating back.

"Yeah, I know," said Darien, also still staring. Then he actually thought about what Drew just said and whacked him over the back of his head. 

"Ow, man! What the hell was that for?" Andrew asked while rubbing his head.

"Don't you all ready have a date?" 

"Since when do you care about that kind of stuff?"

"Since you started checking out MY date." 

They started to quarrel but stopped when Mina walked out of the kitchen. 

"Hey, guys! Look! Pepsi! I haven't had a soda in such a long time!"

"Andrew, I found the keys," said Serena as she walked down the stairs. Mina looked at Serena and waved while she was walking and didn't see the remote control on the floor. 

"Mina, watch out!" yelled Serena, seeing the remote from the staircase. It was all ready too late and Mina tripped over it, reaching for the wall as support. Luckily, she didn't fall. 

"Phew! That was a close one!" said Mina, giggling. Unfortunately, when she reached for the wall, she had no choice but to reach with the hand with the Pepsi can, smashing the can against the wall. Even more unfortunately, the can smashed into the security system control panel in the wall. A cackling was heard, signaling that something was broken.

"Oh no!" Serena quickly ran down the stairs to the control panel. "My dad's security system!"

Mina looked guilty and apologetic. "Wow, I'm really, really, really, really, really sorry, Rena."

Serena sighed but smiled. "It's okay, it was an accident." Right then, the lights flickered and then went off completely.

"What the fuck?!" yelled Andrew and Darien at the same time.

"Serena, what's going on?" asked Mina, a little frightened. "I can't see anything!" yelled Mina, with a hint of panic.

"I have no idea." Serena said, her voice similar to Mina's. Then, a computerized female's voice sounded throughout the house.

"_Security System Lock down._"

The four froze. "Uh oh."

AU: I know, I know, it took a REALLY long time, and I'm really sorry about that. I've been way too busy with schoolwork and all these extracurricular activities that I didn't really have time to right this chapter. I really doubt I'll get to the next chapter very soon b/c of the Mid Year Exams. You can definitely expect it to come out in February.


	12. notice

I know that I promised the next chapter this month, but I'm really, really, really sorry to say that I don't have chapter 12. My cousin is really sick and he's in the hospital right now and the doctors can't really figure out what's wrong with him. I'm really sorry, and I promise to finish the chapter in 2 to 3 weeks.


	13. Chapter 12

Darien paced back and forth in the living room while the rest were seated on the couch staring at his dark figure. This had been continuing for the past thirty minutes. Dark panels were shut tightly over the windows and the all of the exits were locked. Maybe it was fate. Maybe the stars didn't want Darien and her to be together. It's just like when your life is going the way you want it to, but you can't help thinking that this is too good to be true. She guessed that this was one of those times. Serena suddenly sighed. She closed her eyes and rubbed her temples in circles. 

"Darien, would you stop that? You're making me dizzy. And can anyone turn on the light switch over there?" 

Serena's request was unheard as everyone Darien mumbled an apology and plopped down on the marble floor. He had been thinking for the past thirty minutes. He was trapped in a huge mansion with possibly the girl of his dreams. He grinned. Maybe this situation wasn't that bad. They have food, clothes, and a roof over their heads—not to mention a huge roof—, and most importantly, they were alone with absolutely no adult supervision. But he couldn't help but feel guilty about thinking that maybe this was better than going to that pointless school dance when everyone else was stressed out about it. He rose up after realizing that the feeling in his behind was leaving him. 

"Does this mean I don't get to drive the Porsche?" All eyes focused on the direction that Andrew's voice came from. Mina blinked. 

"Do we even have to answer that?" 

Andrew, disheartened, lowered his eyes on the ground and sighed. "Right…"

"I can't believe I'm going to miss _the _dance of the year!" Mina sniffed, "All this waiting, picking the perfect dress, and for what? For nothing…and it's all my fault…" She sniffed some more and inhaled a shaky breath.

Serena patted her on the back sympathetically and tried to say some comforting words to her, but she realized that Mina was telling the truth. It really _was Mina's fault, although it was just an accident._

"Mina, sweetie, don't worry about it, accidents happen all the time."

Mina looked at Serena's dark face through teary eyes and said shakily, "But I totally smashed up your security system! I'm so sorry, Rena!" She looked as if she was about to break down with sobs any minute. 

"Don't worry about it, it's probably not even that hard to fix it anyways." 

"Rena, are you sure everything's locked?" Mina asked with hope. She started to chew on her lip. She sat rigidly on the couch with her back straight and her hands fidgeting with the hem of her dress.

Darien butted in, "Every freakin' door in this whole, entire place is locked. Trust me. I've checked several times."

Andrew suddenly brightened up. "Maybe someone can try to fix the security panel!" 

"Dude, you're suggesting the impossible. There's Pepsi all over that thing and almost every cord in it is fried." Andrew became discouraged again after listening to Darien.

At the word, "Pepsi," Mina grimaced and vowed that she would never drink soda ever again. 

Darien shrugged and grinned inwardly. He felt his way toward the couch and sat down next to Serena. He lazily hung his arm around her shoulder. "We're just going to have to spend the night and possibly stay here until Sere's old man comes and unlocks everything." Suddenly, Serena stood up sharply, letting Darien's arm fall to his side. She slapped her hand onto her forehead.

"Oh my gosh! Oh my gosh, why the hell didn't we think of this before?!" All looked at her anxiously after locating her in the dark. 

"What?" Darien asked, sort of disappointed that there was a possible solution to getting out of the house and also sort of guilty for being disappointed. Wait a second. Why was he feeling guilty about this anyway? These kinds of thoughts never bothered him before…

"We are _such dumbasses!"_

"What is it?" Andrew asked her.

"We can use the phone!" The other three just sat silently and thought of why they couldn't think of this before. Mina jumped up and squealed. 

"We can go to the dance! Oh my gosh!" Meanwhile, Andrew was already heading over to what he thought was the direction of the car, as if it was calling out to him. Darien didn't say anything and stood silently. However, this went unnoticed by the group. Serena headed over to the phone, almost tripping over Mina in the process. She picked up the phone and dialed her dad's cell phone number. She held it up to her ears. She frowned. 

Mina slowly felt her way to her. "So? Are you calling your dad?"

Serena hung up the phone and picked it up again. She put it up to her ears and froze. 

"Oh shit."

"What's wrong, Rena?" Mina impatiently took the phone from Serena's hand and held it up to her ears. She looked confused. There was absolutely no sound. Then it clicked in her mind.

"Oh man, oh man, oh man, this is not happening! Why isn't the phone working?" Mina dejectedly put the phone back into place and slid down on the floor. Across the living room, Andrew did the same.

Darien called out in the darkness. "I'm really sorry, man. Uh…wherever you are…" 

Serena looked at the phone incredulously, "I can't believe this!" She spaced out to think about something. She looked about her and noticed the darkness. She realized that she can barely make the stuff out in the room. 

"Oh shit, did anyone try to turn on the light?" The four of them just stared at each other, blinking. 

Darien saw a dark object on the floor. He picked it up and it was the remote control that Mina tripped over. He tried to turn the TV on, only to see the black screen. He checked the batteries in the remote and they were perfectly fine. 

"Yup, the electricity's out." 

"Maybe it's a coincidence. Maybe there's no electricity in the whole town…" suggested Serena, "that means it'll probably come back on in a few minutes. But why would the security system crashing affect the electricity?" She thought long and hard. 

"Oh! I have a cell phone! It's upstairs!" Everyone brightened up at the thought. They discussed it and decided that Serena would go upstairs and retrieve her cell phone and call her father. Serena blew on her hands and rubbed them together.  
  


"Is anyone else a little chilly or is it just me?"

"Why, Sere? Need something to warm you up?" Serena glared into no where. She couldn't believe that he was trying to be a smartass when they had no heat! He was unbelievably incredible! 

Darien could almost feel Serena's anger and said in an innocent voice, "What? I was just wondering if you wanted my jacket. Jeez, Sere, get your mind out of the gutter, you nasty girl."

Serena ignored the comment and turned to Mina. Serena had lived in much colder climates before, so this wasn't really a problem. Personally, she didn't mind a little cool air, but she saw that Mina was frantically rubbing her arms and legs trying to keep herself warm. Wearing a very small dress didn't really help the situation. Serena had found out that it got a little chilly in the night during this time of the year. She guessed that it was much colder in this house because of the absence of a warm breeze and also because of the fact that her house was too big and had ceilings too high to keep the heat in one place and low on the ground. 

"Do you want a blanket? I'll go grab some since I'm going upstairs anyway." 

Darien grinned, "Sure, babe."

Serena rolled her eyes. "Let me rephrase that. Do you want a blanket, _Mina?"_

"I'll go with you anyway." Serena narrowed her eyes. She had a feeling that he was up to something. She didn't know why she couldn't just trust Darien. Oh yeah, he's a major player. 

Raye and her friends sat around a round table. 

"Where the hell are they?" Raye fumed, tapping her foot impatiently against the floor. The blond-haired girl twirling her hair popped the pink bubble gum.

"You don't think they're at a hotel, do you?"

Raye snapped her head to glare at her, "Of course not." At this minute, Darien's friends all showed up, laughing and joking with each other. 

"Man, Darien and Andrew must be having a hell of a time with those blond babes," Kevin joked.  
  


Chad gave him a high five and grinned, "Darien really is the MAN!"

"Shut the fuck up, you idiots!" Raye stood up angrily and stomped towards the ladies room with her friends following her.

Kevin stared at her retreating back. "What the fuck is up her ass?"

The rest of the guys just shrugged and continued to joke. 

"Ah! Fuck, man!" Darien mumbled an apology as he accidentally stepped on Andrew's hand. Damn, he couldn't see anything. It was pitch black in here. He was going up the stairs with Serena, walking behind her. At that moment, Serena suddenly stopped after they finally came to the end of the staircase, causing Darien to bump into her and grabbed her on reflex. Serena, not being able to withstand his weight, fell on the floor with a squeak. 

"Ugh," moaned Serena, her voice muffled. 

"Are you okay?" Darien asked in alarm. Serena mumbled out her answer.

"Are you the king of idiots or something? Get off of me!" Darien blushed slightly and reluctantly stood up from her back. He was thankful for the darkness that hid his blush. 

"So you admit I'm the king." 

Serena rolled her eyes and dusted herself off. "Don't forget 'of idiots'."

"Come on, my room's around the corner." Serena started feeling the side of the wall to help her find her way.

Darien grinned, "Is that an invitation?" 

She threw a dirty look in his direction, although she doubted he could see it. "It's an invitation to get some stuff from my room with me."

"So is that how kids are putting it these days?" Darien pretended to seem impressed, "Clever."

Serena rolled her eyes for the thousandth time this day. "Yes, Darien, you saw right through me. I want to get you in my room so we can do kinky stuff," she said in a monotonous voice. 

Darien smiled, "I knew this whole lockdown thing was a plan to get me into bed."

"You wish."

"Now," Darien started, "how is it that you keep saying that _I_ wish when it's really _you that's wishing?"_

"You have a really twisted sense of logic, you know that?"

"I've been told." Darien reached out and grabbed what he guessed was her shoulder. 

Serena tensed, "What are you doing?"

"Leaning on you for guidance, what else? I'm not going to ravage you, you know." 

Serena bit her lip to keep from having a nervous breakdown. She wished he would just take his hand away so she wouldn't feel like such an idiot. "W-well, can't you grab onto the wall or something?"

His grin never leaving his face, he replied, "Why would I do that when I like you better?"

Serena turned on her irritated voice, "Fine, just don't try anything funny."

"Yes, m'am." 

"Oh, and Darien?"

"Yes, m'am?"

"Don't say 'ravage'."

"Yes, m'am."

They slowly inched their way through the dark for what seemed like hours. Darien sighed and whined like a little boy.

"Are we there yet?" 

Serena exhaled deeply and replied Darien for the fifth time. "Apparently not." Serena frowned and stopped walking. 

"Hmm…that's weird…"

"Are we there yet?"

"We're supposed to be at my room by now…" Serena chewed on her bottom lip, ignoring Darien. 

Darien stopped his childish antics. "Are you telling me that you got us lost in your own home?" He asked, unbelievingly. He took that as a "yes" when he was met with silence. 

"What was that comment about _me_ being the 'king of idiots'?"

"Shut up."

"Wonder what's taking them so long…" Mina and Andrew were curled up together on the sofa, trying to keep themselves warm with each other's body heat. Andrew had come out of his depressed state and realized what Darien had realized way before. This definitely proved to be an advantage. He grinned and scooted closer to Mina. 

"Don't worry about them. Darien knows what he's doing," he said, smirking at the secret meaning underneath. 

"Darien, you don't know what you're doing," stated Serena matter-of-factly. They were trying to go back the way they came from and start all over again. So far, they were not having very much success. This day was turning out to be the worst day of Serena's life. They were trapped in a house that not even Serena knew how to get around, with no electricity and no heat. The cell phone was their only hope and that was IF they could find it. Darien's voice interrupted her train of thought.

"Of course I know what I'm doing. And the scary thing is, is that I know this house as much as you do and you're the one living in it." 

Serena blew her hair out of her face that was now adorning an annoyed expression. She wondered what brand this hairspray was, because she'd be damned if she got it again. "Would you just stop mentioning that? Besides, I just moved here and it's not like I have freaky eyes that can see in the dark, alright?" 

"Well, I would have guessed that you'd have learned where the door to your room is by now." Darien was immensely enjoying riling her up like this. Now he finally had something to hold against her. 

"I don't count how many doors I have to walk past to get to my room, 'cause that's just not normal! I just recognize it as the one with the white double doors, and if we happened to miss a door, it's your fault," Serena huffed. 

Darien raised an eyebrow, amused by her logic. "Explain." 

"If I missed a door, you should have told me about it, 'cause unless I was dreaming the whole, entire time, which I really wish I were, you were right behind me, mister!" 

"So you admit that you dream about me."

Serena chose to ignore his comment. "Let's just go into a random room."

Darien smirked, "Are you suggesting something?"

"Well, duh." At this, Darien paused, shocked that his innocent Sere could think of such a thing, not that he didn't like it or anything…

"I was suggesting that we go into a random room and get some blankets before Mina gets sick or something." Damn. He knew it was too good to be true.

"Oh."

"Besides, we can come up for the cell phone later. Let's just make sure everyone's alright first." At the first dent in the wall that she felt, Serena stood up and grabbed the doorknob. 

"Darien," she called out.

"What," Darien answered back.

"Let's go into this one." Serena opened the door and stepped in the room. She reached out with her right foot and tried to feel the floor in front of her. While she was doing this, Darien abruptly walked into the room, knocking her over. Unfortunately, it was too late for Darien to grab her before she fell. It was too dark for Darien to see. He crouched down on the floor immediately and called out her name.

"Ugh," Serena moaned, "I'm fine…" 

Darien quickly crawled towards her voice. "Are you sure you're alright?"

"Yeah, I'm fine." Serena started to stand up, but she ended up sitting back down. 

Darien reached for Serena, "What's wrong?"

"I think I twisted my ankle. Jeez, why the hell do I always get hurt?" 

"Let me see."

Serena tried to lighten the mood with a joke, "Well, if you haven't noticed, it's completely black, so I don't think I can show you."

Darien quickly retorted with a serious voice. "You know what I mean." Serena rolled her eyes, but still stuck out her foot for Darien to feel.

"It's probably red right now. It'll get swollen soon enough."

Serena sighed. "Great." Suddenly she felt Darien's arms underneath her, lifting her up from the floor. 

"Hey! What're you doing?"

"What does it look like I'm doing?" He walked slowly walked to the door.

"Where are we going? Put me down!" Serena resisted in vain, for Darien just grabbed onto her tighter.

"You can't walk. We're going to try to find a bathroom. That's where the medicine cabinet is, right?"

"Yeah, but…it's not that bad. I can still limp. Come on, you're going to get tired sooner or later, so just let me go," Serena pleaded. 

Darien ceased walking. He leaned down close so that she could feel his breath and whispered into her ear.

"Why would I let you go when I finally caught you?" 


	14. Chapter 13

"Darien, damn it, that better not be your hand." Serena warned, while Darien was blindly carrying her around through the dark. They have been randomly walking for what seemed like hours, trying to find a bathroom, or a room with a bathroom. 

Darien grinned and feigned innocence, "That's not my hand." Serena narrowed her eyes into little slits. If he thought that he could use her injury as a chance to feel her up, he was definitely wrong. She reached down and pinched his hand, hard. 

"AH! DAMN!" Darien screamed, almost dropping Serena.

"You pervert! That IS your hand!" Serena yelled into his ear. 

"Do you realize that I could have dropped you on the floor?" He started to rub his hand on her leg. She widened her eyes.

"WHAT THE HELL!" Squirming to get out of his arms, Serena kicked her legs back and forth.

Darien held her even tighter, "Stop moving! You'll hurt yourself even more!"

"I knew you were some sort of sick pervert from the start! LET ME GO!" Serena started pinching his arms to make him let go. She knew that he was being too good to be true. There was an ulterior motive underneath it all from the beginning. She knew she should have never trusted him. For all she knew, he could have lured other girls and introduced them to the world of the pervert…And there was no one in the house to help her! Even if she screamed, Mina or Andrew would not hear her! So this was the turn that her life would take. She would be molested by an unbelievably gorgeous jock and no would be able to stop him. 

"Serena, stop freaking out! Jeez! I was only trying to make the pain go away! I know you think I'm a handsome, buff and smart guy, but hey, I'm not that strong enough to hold you with one arm."

Oh sure, that was the best he could do? How incredibly lame. What, he couldn't hold her with one arm? What a bunch of crap. Serena huffed.   
  


"Couldn't you rub yourself?"

Darien smirked, "Well, I'll do that sometime later if you want to watch m—" 

Serena's hands flew to her ears. "UGH! Don't even finish!"

After her hands came back down, Darien started, "If I rubbed myself, I would have had to let you go, and like I told you before, I'm not going to let you go. So just relax."

Serena rolled her eyes and stopped fidgeting. Who wants him to not let go anyway? What a stupid, arrogant pig, always assuming things…Well, they say that people that assume make an ass of—

"I think I found a bathroom." Darien grabbed the doorknob, while still holding on to her, and swung the door open. 

"I can't see anything. Are you sure this is a bathroom?" Squinting, she tried in vain to make out the objects in the room. 

Darien laughed, "Well, why don't _you tell me, I don't live here." Serena pinched him, again._

"OW! What's with you and pinching?"

Serena teased him, "Aw, don't tell me the captain of the big, bad football team can't take a little pinch!"

"A LITTLE pinch? You call that a LITTLE pinch?!" 

She laughed before she realized that they were indeed in the bathroom. She could recognize the scent of her bath salts. Suddenly, she realized that she usually lit candles while taking nice, long baths. She tapped Darien on the shoulder.

"Darien, I got an idea!"

Darien came out of his pain long enough to murmur, "What?"

"Walk to your left until I tell you to stop." He slowly turned to his left and started walking. Serena raised her hand and waited until she felt the cool marble sink underneath her fingertips. 

"Stop." Darien did as she told him to. 

"Okay, now get down on the floor."

"This really isn't the time to make out, but if you really want to, I guess I can grant you a favor," Darien smirked. He really did enjoy teasing her. Besides, it gave him an excuse to talk to her. The way she smiled and pretended to not like what he said. He didn't really get why she wouldn't just give in and pronounce her true feelings. Everyone knew that she had feelings for him. If she wanted to play hard to get, it was fine by him. He grinned.

"Jeez, just do it already!" Darien kneeled down while Serena opened the cabinet and searched for the candles that she would always use. When she felt the waxy material, she grabbed it, along with another candle behind it and packet of matches beside it. 

"Okay, now stand up." 

"I kind of like this bossy attitude. It's definitely sexy." He stood up. 

"Put me down," she continued when she heard him starting to refuse, "It's okay. I can stand on my other foot." He reluctantly let go of her gently and she stood up shakily with his arms supporting her around her waist. She put the candle down on the sink and tore a match from the packet. 

"Damn!" Serena swore when she couldn't get the match to light up. 

"Need any help?" 

Serena tore off another match, giving up on the first one. "No thanks." After three matches later, she was finally able to light the two candles. The room instantly lit up with a dim glow. Serena looked up and caught Darien's dark blue eyes through the mirror. As much as she tried to break away, she found out that she just couldn't will herself to do it. Darien was the first to break eye contact. 

"So, where's that medicine kit?" _Jeez, Shockcor! What the hell was that?!_

Serena blinked. "Huh?"

Amused, Darien gave a slight smile. "You know, for your ankle?"

Serena blankly nodded and murmured, "Oh, um, It's over there." She said, pointing toward a tiny cabinet on the other side of the bathroom. 

Walking over to the cabinet in long strides, Darien took out a white, metal box with a red cross on the cover. He quickly walked back to Serena and opened the box hurriedly. Serena's eyes watched him the entire time. 

"Here," said Darien, pulling the toilet cover down, "sit and put your leg out." Serena did as she was told and continued to watch. He slipped her sandal off of her foot and put some kind of ointment on her ankle that felt very cool and kind of uncomfortable. 

Her mind began to wonder why he was doing this. A part of her was skeptical and decided that he was only doing this so that she would get into bed with him. But, a different part of her knew that he wasn't just doing this to add another notch in his belt. And that same part of her wanted so badly for him to think of her as different from any other girl he had met in his life. Even though her ankle was the size of an orange, she was content with this moment. She had wished to be happy for just one moment in her life and then everything would be set. This had to be too good to be true. 

"Okay, all done." At his voice, Serena was brought back to reality from her thoughts. She looked down at her ankle to see it wrapped in bandages. Turning to Darien, she smiled. 

Darien sat on the floor, awestruck by her blinding smile. Has she ever smiled like that to him before? 

"Thank you."

Darien was caught off guard and he stuttered out a response. "N-nah, don't worry about it. It was nothing." Serena still kept the smile on her face as she looked at him losing his cool. 

"What do you think Rena and Darien are doing?" Mina twirled a strand of her hair with her finger while her other hand was clutching her eyes to her chest. She shivered a little because of the cold. 

Andrew grinned, "I could think of some things they might be doing right now."

Serena and Darien were millimeters from each other's faces. Closing her eyes, she felt Darien's breath as he leaned in. She wished she could capture this moment and freeze time so they could be like this forever. Darien's thoughts were not far off from Serena's. When their lips touched, Darien was in heaven. They slowly broke apart and opened their eyes. After staring into each other's eyes, Serena broke the silence. 

Nervously giggling, she said, "I bet Mina's an icicle right about now."

"Right, the blankets," said Darien, absentmindedly. 

Serena got in his arms again and they started for the door, Serena clutching two lit candles in her hands. As soon as they got out, Darien tried to lighten the atmosphere. 

"So, recognize where we are now?" He asked, jokingly.

"Shut up," Serena glared at him, while still keeping a smile on her face. Now that the tension between them had dissipated, they started a light conversation. 

"So, Darien, have you always been the king of your school?" 

Darien gloated, puffing out his chest a bit. "Of course, ever since I was born."

Serena laughed lightly, "I can imagine you trying to feel up a two-year-old girl in diapers while playing in a play-pen."

"Hey, how'd you know that?" At Serena's surprised look, he quickly said, "Just kidding" and started laughing. 

"But seriously though," Darien started as his laughter subsided, "it's hard being me." At the sight of Serena rolling her eyes, Darien pouted and tried his best to defend himself. 

"I'm dead serious!"

"Sure, Dare, sure. It must be very hard to have girls hanging all over you all the time."

"Contrary to your belief, that's not all there is to being king. I have certain pressures." Darien put on a serious face.

"Right…And would those pressures be deciding on which girl to hit on next?" Serena asked sarcastically. 

"No," said Darien, gloatingly, "that comes naturally."

Serena muttered an "ugh" and said, "I swear I could just pour this hot candle wax all over you right now." When Serena saw a familiar glint in his eyes, she quickly interrupted before he could mutter a word. 

"Darien, don't even say anything, you pervert." Darien just chuckled and they continued to walk through her house in comfortable silence. Serena guided Darien to her room and they searched for her cell phone. Darien saw that her room didn't fit the image of her room that he had in his mind. He expected the room to be sweet and inviting and cozy. But he sensed sort of a cold vibe from the room. There were no pictures or posters hanging in the room. There were no cute stuffed animals or anything that remotely reflected her personality. 

Serena sensed his puzzled state. "I didn't decorate this room. It was like this when I got here."

"Want to explain why there are no pictures hanging on the walls or anything like that?"

Darien felt Serena shift uncomfortably in his arms and heard her say evasively, "Don't want to get too attached, you know how it is…" 

Darien didn't know how it was, but he decided not to push further. He didn't want to tick her off, especially since he was doing so well with her. 

They emerged from her room minutes later with four blankets and a cell phone that had no batteries, to Serena's disappointment. Reaching the staircase, Darien began to descend those stairs with difficulty. He couldn't see over the pile of blankets and was trying his best not to tumble down the stairs or drop Serena. 

Mina and Andrew were discussing the strategies of football when Mina suddenly sat straight up, saying "shhh!"

"Andrew, did you hear that?"

"Hear what?" Andrew asked, dumbfounded. 

"That noise…It sounds like footsteps…Oh my gosh! That must be Sere and Darien!" Mina excitedly stood up and ran blindly toward the sound. However, she unexpectedly bumped into some kind of furniture and landed on her face with a loud smack.   
  


Andrew winced and shook his head. "Jeez…"

Serena and Darien were startled by the sound. 

"What was that?" Darien asked Serena.   
  


She looked up toward the ceiling and muttered, "Oh no."

"What?"

"That was probably Mina. Come on, hurry up, I need to see if she's alright."

Darien rolled his eyes and blew a couple strands of his jet black hair out of his eyes. "Well, sorry, _princess, but it doesn't help much to have a pile of blankets obstructing my view of my feet."_

"Well, it's not like I can help it either, so get a move on, _slave," commanded Serena in a fake, haughty voice. _

Darien brightened up, "Your sex slave?"

"No."

"Damn it."

They finally made it down the stairs and walked into the living room. Now, that the living room was dimly lit, Serena could see Mina sprawled on the floor with Andrew by her side. They both looked up as Serena and Darien walked toward them. 

"Serena? Thank God, you're back, did you find your cellphone? Did you call anyone?" Mina asked hurriedly, trying to advert the embarrassing attention from herself. She stood up quickly, dusting herself off, not because there was actual lint but as a nervous habit. 

Darien gently put Serena down on the couch beside Mina and sat down on Serena's other side. Serena put the candles down on the coffee table and laid the blankets by her feet before she looked at Mina sympathetically. 

"I found the cellphone, but it didn't work; no batteries…" said Serena, while shaking her head. She picked two blankets from the pile and passed them to Mina and Andrew. 

Mina looked crestfallen. Andrew was not off better. 

"I'm really sorry, Mina, I knew you wanted to go to the dance." Serena gave her a half hug. Mina tried to look cheerful as she said, "Well, at least I'm stuck here with two hot guys and my girlfriend." 

"So I'm not driving that Porsche tonight, right?' Darien turned to look at Andrew exasperatedly. He couldn't believe Drew could think of that now. 

"No, doesn't look like it, now, does it?" Darien snapped.   
  


Andrew put his hands up in the air. "Alright! Don't get your granny panties in a bunch…"

"Look who's talking, Mr. I-buy-my-underwear-from-the-old-ladies-section," Darien taunted. Mina and Serena each raised an eyebrow at this comment. Serena interrupted, trying to stop a fight from erupting. 

"Guys, stop it right now! Act your ages, alright?"

There was a silence, where everyone was trying to keep their tempers in check. Then, all of the sudden came an outburst from Andrew, who couldn't just not defend himself.  

"Dude! That was only once!" Andrew shouted, trying to salvage his image in front of Mina, whose mouth had dropped. 

"Whatever!" Serena shouted. "Everyone just stop and let's just go to sleep. Hopefully, my father will be able to rescue us in the morning."

Andrew finally let it go, but had to explain to Mina, since she was pleading him to. Darien looked over at the couple. They were in deep discussion about the granny underwear incident and were too preoccupied. He looked over at Serena. It looked as if she was in deep thought. Darien grinned. He moved a little closer to Serena. She didn't seem to notice. He grinned even further and slowly started to move his arm behind her neck. 

"What are you doing?" Darien was caught off guard by her voice. 

"What?"

"What's your arm doing behind me?" Serena said, smiling a little. 

"Oh yeah, that." Darien ran his hand through his hair, "You know, it's kind of getting cold, so I was trying to get some, um…"

"Body heat?" Serena asked, amused. 

Darien grinned, "Yeah! Yeah, body heat. So…" He scooted closer. They sat there for a long time, until he finally put his arms around her shoulder. Serena looked at his tanned face as his head leaned closer and closer to hers. His lips were about to touch hers when he was met with a fluffy blanket in his face, causing his head to hit the couch hard. 

Serena stood up. "I'm going to get something to eat." She lifted one of the candles from the table.  

Darien stood up as well. "Need any help?"

"No, it's only over there. I can make it by myself." She started to limp toward the kitchen.

"Are you sure?"

"Yes, positive."

Okay, so maybe what she did was a little harsh, but still, could any girl blame her if she wanted to just talk once in a while? All they ever did was tease each other and kiss. Could they ever be anything more than just a kissing couple? It did seem like there was something more to Darien than what everyone believed. Maybe she should give him the benefit of the doubt. Serena shook her head. She didn't want to think about this right now. She was getting hungry and the food was probably rotting in the fridge. It was a wonder how people in the ancient times survived without electricity. 

She pushed open one of the swinging doors to the kitchen and limped toward the refrigerator. She could have found the refrigerator without a candle since she hung around here more than her own bedroom. Just as she expected, everything was either withering, melting or smelling funky. Grabbing four containers of leftovers and four forks, she put them into an empty plastic bag which she put around her wrist. 

After she returned, everyone immediately picked up a fork and ate the slightly warm leftovers. Andrew was about to complain about something hard that he bit when they all heard a banging noise. 

"Did everyone hear that?" Serena questioned, her eyes darting around the house. The three of them nodded in response. 

"Maybe it was an animal…" Mina suggested. 

Then, the banging came again, except this time it was louder with a lot more force.  

Serena abruptly stood up on one leg and limped toward the covered window. She pounded her fist against the window and screamed as loud as she could, "Is anybody there! Help! We're locked inside! Help!"

The rest got the idea and started pounding on the widows as well. When they received no response for five minutes they gave up and plopped down on the couch again. 

Andrew sighed loudly. "I knew it was too good to be true…"

For a while they sat there in silence, wrapped up in blankets when all of the sudden the metal plates were removed from all of the windows. The lights flickered and lit the room. The four looked around, confused. The door was kicked open, causing both Serena and Mina to jump and also causing four pairs of eyes to focus on the doorway. A tall man with unruly black hair hurriedly walked in. Behind him were two bulky men in black suits, looking alert.

"What the…" Darien's remark caused the three men to look his way, giving Serena a full view of the black-haired man's face. A look of recognition crossed the young man's face. 

Serena gasped and stood up. "Tasji?!"

"Serena!" He walked toward Serena in quick strides with long legs, taking a short amount of time to get to her. When he reached her, he hugged her and looked around her body for any cuts or bruises. 

"Are you alright?" Darien clamped his jaws tightly and clenched his hands. Why was that guy touching her? Fine, so they knew each other. So what?

"What are you doing here?" Serena said, still gaping. 

"I came here to take you back with me."

AN: Hey, everyone. Sorry about the late update, again. You all are probably pissed off at me right now. Unfortunately, my cousin passed away and I was too depressed to do anything. But since I'm better, you can expect me to finish this story. 


	15. Chapter 14

"I came here to take you back with me."

  


Darien stood up behind Serena with stony eyes. There was just something about that guy that he didn't like. He couldn't grasp it yet, but he definitely didn't like him at all. Who was he to come here and tell his girlfriend to come back with him to who knows where? Grabbing her shoulders with both hands, he pulled her backward into his arms. Tasji followed the movement with his eyes, his jaws set. 

  


"She's not going anywhere until you at least tell us who you are," he stated coolly. Darien then looked the man over, sizing him up. Tasji sized him up with equal determination. Now, they were engaged in a staring contest, the prize being Serena. 

  


Tasji slowly took a menacing step forward, slightly towering over Darien. This caused Darien to look up into his face, which was a significant blow to his ego, considering he had been one of the tallest kids ever since elementary school. 

  


"Where I go and what I do with Serena does not and will never concern you." Tasji gave him a penetrating glare.

  


Serena, who was not responding to anything before, snapped out of her shocked state from the palpable tension. She turned around in Darien's arms and lightly put her hand on his chest to stop him from doing anything rash. 

  


"Darien," she called out, causing Darien to be the first to break eye contact. "Darien, it's okay, I know him."

  


Tasji interrupted, "That would be an understatement." At his comment, Darien narrowed his eyes and clenched his fists. Tasji just gave him a smirk in return and turned to Serena. 

"Let's get the hell out of here." With this, Tasji grabbed Serena's arm and dragged her towards the door. Darien stared in disbelief and ran after them, grabbing Serena's other arm. 

  


"The hell she's going anywhere with you!" 

Still having his back turned to Darien, Tasji calmly turned his head slightly so that Darien could be seen in the corner of his eyes. 

  


"I suggest you let go before her father comes."

  


Darien retorted, suppressing his anger, "Then I suggest you do the same, Tas." With this, he pulled at Serena's arm lightly, only to have it pulled away from him by his antagonist. 

"Ow!"

  


"Sorry." Both answered at the same time.

"She's coming with me." Tasji pulled her arm again, now fully turning around to meet his eyes.

Darien glared and pulled her arm with a little more force. "She's not going anywhere."

  


"Ow!"

  


"Sorry." Two voices were heard in unison. 

"This is her house, she can choose if she wants to leave or not." Darien bit out, inwardly hoping that Serena would want to stay. 

Tasji keeping a condescending expression on his face shot back at him. "So leave. You don't live here. What the hell are you still doing here?" He pulled at her arm. 

"I'm not the only one that doesn't live here," said Darien, gritting his teeth and giving her arm another pull. 

"Then take them with you," Tasji responded, glancing over at Mina and Andrew, who had been watching them exchange blows in fascination. 

  


"What about you, monkey boy? It's not like you live here." He replied, his anger clearly showing in the way he was clenching and unclenching his fist. He pulled on Serena's hand, using more force than he meant to use. 

"Not permanently." Smirking, Tasji gave another pull. 

  


"OKAY, THAT IS ENOUGH!" The two surprised boys loosened their grip, allowing Serena to wrench her arms free and give each of them a long, excruciating glare. 

"You two are NOT in the seventh grade anymore! Tasji, YOU especially! You're already 23! You're not in high school anymore!" Serena was fuming. She was sick of being treated like a little girl who couldn't think for herself. It was one thing to be the cause of a fight, but it was another thing to be tossed around back and forth like a tug-of-war rope. She had no idea how this came to be when just thirty minutes ago the four of them were enjoying leftovers in comfortable silence. 

Darien was boasting in the fact that she was criticizing him for be immature, but was unpleasantly surprised by his age. He was an older man. Maybe Serena liked older men. He was more experienced than him. This wasn't good. And he was a little ticked off by the 'high school' comment. So, that bastard was better than him just because he wasn't in high school? Darien was interrupted from his thoughts by Serena directing her attention towards him. 

"And YOU. You shouldn't have encouraged him to fight! What were you _thinking_?"

Darien was surprised that she focused on him, too. "Um…"

"Yeah, that's right," interrupted Serena before he even finished, "you weren't." Tasji gave a cruel smile at this comment, causing Darien to almost lose his temper if it wasn't for Serena. 

"Mina, Andrew, sorry about all this, you guys should probably get home and rest." Serena looked at them apologetically but received head shakes from them, signaling that they didn't want to go home just yet. 

"And you," she said, pointing to Darien, "you better go before my father comes home."

  


Darien sputtered in disbelief. "What about Romeo over there? Doesn't he have to go, too?" Giving him a seething glance, he only received a sarcastic smile. 

  


"Why would I leave when her father is expecting me to be settled in and making myself at home?" 

  


Darien looked at Serena. "Sere, who the hell is this guy?" Why wasn't Serena backing him up? Wasn't she his girlfriend? Or was she? He was pretty sure that they had something together. I mean, he wouldn't exactly call what they have strictly friendship. Why the hell would she back up some random dude that just barged into her house thinking he was some kind of a knight in shining armor?

"He's a family friend," said Serena, while sighing and ruffling her hair. Receiving a doubtful look from Darien, she realized she needed to do something fast. Neither one of them looked like they were going to back off any time soon. 

  


She looked at Darien with a hint of apology, "I'll see you on Monday, Darien."

  


Looking at her with disbelief, he held her by her shoulders. "You can't be serious, Sere!" When receiving no laughter from Serena, he ran his fingers through his hair and walked out the door, slamming it with much force. The echoes of the door shutting throughout the house pierced the silence. 

"Serena, I'll see you at school. Bye, girl." Mina dragged Andrew out the door, leaving Tasji and Serena standing by themselves. 

  


Sighing, Serena plopped herself down on the couch, looking up to find Tasji staring at her. 

"What?" Snapping out of frustration, she glared at him. Frowning, he looked her up and down. 

  


"Take that off. It looks trashy."

  


Glaring at him longer, she stood up and walked towards the stairs. Hearing his footsteps following her, she walked faster, her heels clicking rapidly against the marble floor. This caused him to walk faster also. She pretended not to hear his voice as he called her name. When she reached her room, she quickly shut the door behind her. She sat on her bed, her heart pounding against her chest. Her breathing was rapid out of anger. She couldn't believe he had the nerve to insult her and her friends in her house! And he came here to take her back with him? She gritted her teeth in anger. And her father was expecting him? Expecting him? What the hell for? 

  


She didn't know how to feel. Sure, she was definitely angry. And surprised. But was she pleasantly surprised? She guessed so, since she did think about him from time to time. Once, she thought about calling him, but decided to give up that idea when she couldn't find his phone number. She was rudely interrupted from her inward ranting by a loud pounding noise coming from the door. 

  


"Serenity, come out. Did you get upset just because of that little comment?" He chuckled. She was having her old fits again. 

  


Serena paused at hearing the name. "I-I don't want to be disturbed right now." She said, loud enough so that he could hear. 

  


Tasji sighed. "Well, when you are ready to come out, I will be in the study." He took one last glance at the double doors and left, this footsteps echoing in the hallway. 

  


When Serena heard them fading away, she stood up abruptly, still agitated from moments before and took off the dress. The dress wasn't "trashy" at all in her opinion. Sure, it was quite revealing and showed more skin than she would have liked, but the dress had style. It wasn't exactly the type of dress a girl would wear going to a bar. It shouldn't be, after what she paid for it. She wasn't ever going to tell Mina that he had insulted her sense of style. The girl would take it as a huge offense to her character; she was serious enough about fashion as to have applied to several different fashion institutes.  

Serena took a quick shower and got dressed. Still a little edgy, her face took on a stolid expression when she found him in the study, lounging on a sofa while drinking scotch. In the midst of swirling the ice in the glass absent mindedly, he looked up to see Serena seated on the chair opposite of him.  

  


"That's much better." He stated after seeing Serena's normal outfit. She responded with silence, still staring at him with an irritated expression. 

  


"Although, I must say, in-style fashion introduces itself to America quite slowly."  

  


She rolled her eyes. "Stop acting as my fashion consultant and let's get right to the point. Why the hell are you here?"

  


Tasji shook his head side to side. "Tsk, tsk, tsk. America has been a bad influence on you. This is another good reason why you are going back to Japan with me." 

  


After a moment of silence, he began to speak again. 

  


"You've really grown, Serenity." 

  


Serena's eyes softened at remembering the Tasji from a long time ago. The sound of the front door closing signaled the arrival of Serena's father. The two stood up and walked out of the study and into the living room to greet him. Upon hearing their footsteps, Serena's father looked up and smiled at seeing the two of them together. 

  


"Tasji, I see you and Serena have been doing some catching up." 

  


"Hello, sir. My father hopes that you are well." Tasji bowed, looking awkward to Serena, who had not seen Japanese tradition for a while. 

  


The old man gave him a hearty clap on the back. "Let's have a seat. Have you had anything to eat yet?"

  


"No, sir. Not unless you count a glass of…"

  


Their voices faded away as Serena drifted off to her own thoughts. She wondered how Darien was doing right now. He would probably never want to talk to her ever again after what happened tonight. She would not want to talk to herself if she was in his position. It's not that she wanted to publicly humiliate him in front of his friends and Tasji. She thought about Tasji. He was still protective of her even though he had not seen her in five years. 

When she was only ten years old, he used to be the guy that every girl in the city wanted. She remembered walking into his room one time and catching him in bed with another girl. He had screamed at her to get out and she cried for a whole week, thinking that he hated her and that he never wanted to talk to her ever again. Although he used to tease her about being a crybaby and call her a nerd, she thought that he was the coolest person in the whole world. She also remembered wanting for him to think that she was "cool," too. 

He was the older brother that she had always wanted (and maybe she even had the tiniest bit of a crush on him). The brother that she got stuck with wasn't "cool" by everyone else's definition. He was scraggly and average while Tasji was tall and handsome, even when they were of the same age. Her brother never even took her to the playground while Tasji gave her piggyback rides and took her to the park. She figured that by hanging out with him, she would be considered "cool" by everyone. And she was right. She remembered the looks on her fourth grade classmates when she came into class hand in hand with Tasji. There couldn't have been anyone else that she wanted to be with at that moment but Tasji.  

  


Those were one of the few good times they had together. However, being a male teenager with raging hormones, he was prone to dumping her without a second glance whenever a potential date came around. She used to get so angry that she would lock herself in her room until he came and promised her that he would take her out for ice cream. There was always a part of her that wanted his attention, even now after five years. When she heard him call her 'Serenity,' her first reaction was joy. He was the only person who used to call her that and it made her feel special. She felt like a little girl with a crush on the boy next door again. All those emotions and those feelings that she had for him came rushing back the moment he walked into her house today. And this brought her back to Darien. 

  


It would be crazy to say that there was nothing between her and Darien. She had no idea what that thing was but it was definitely something. There was no way that she and Darien could just be friends. Serena was disrupted from her thoughts by a call.

"Serena!" She snapped her head up. Shaking her mind from her previous thoughts, she took a deep breath and walked into the dining room. When she got there, her father and Tasji were already drinking wine. At seeing his daughter walk in, he looked up from his wine glass. 

  


"There you are. Sit, we have a lot to talk about."

  


Serena took the seat next to Tasji and lifted up the glass as Tasji poured red wine into it.

  


"I have some good news for you," her father started, "and at first you might be a little shocked, but you will soon realize that this is the best for you."

  


Dread slowly creeping into her stomach, Serena tightly grabbed the seat of her chair with both hands, turning them into a pale white color. _No, it can't be, oh please don't make me move again….  _

"Tasji's father has reserved a spot for you in Tokyo University."

  


The dreadful feeling in her stomach was now full-blown and she grabbed the material of her shirt, close to her heart. She felt as if all the air in her lungs has been sucked out of her and she was completely void. She found herself unable to breathe calmly. Tasji looked at her with an unreadable expression in his eyes. His hand wistfully reached out and almost found hers, but was pulled back just in time. He turned his head to the opposite direction, unwilling to look in her reaction.

  


"He had to pull many strings for you to be accepted and it would be a direct offense to Hujiwara-san if you refuse his offer. He is a man of high position and respect. Therefore, you will be going back to Japan with his son at the end of next month. I believe I have given you plenty of time to let you get used to the idea and say good-bye to your friends. Tasji is also attending the school and he will give you a tour before school starts. This is a great opportunity for you and I will not let it go to waste."

  


Her eyes were disbelieving as she stared down at her lap. She shook her head slowly and looked up at her father. 

  


"No." She said softly. Her father stopped in the middle of taking a sip of his wine. Tasji looked over at her in surprise. 

  


"No." She stated more firmly this time. "I will _not_ let you interfere with my life again. Until today, I've always gone to the school you've wanted me to go to and I've always dressed the way you wanted me to dress and I've always made friends with who you wanted me to make friends with. I'm not some puppet that you control by the strings.

  


I have friends for the first time in a long time. I actually like the school here and I'm actually _happy here! I want to finish the rest of the school year and I want to graduate with my friends! For __once, let me have some peace!" _

  


By the end of her speech, she was frantic and almost begging. Her father just silently looked down at his food. Tasji did the same. However, it was her father who lifted his head first. He cleared his throat.

  


"Well. I am sorry that you feel that way. However, your spot has already been reserved and I fear that it is too late to back out. I know for a fact that this college is the absolute best for my daughter." Serena's father stood up from the table, causing Tasji to stand up out of politeness. After he motioned him to sit down, he pushed his chair back in.

  


"I'm sorry to say that I'm going to have to cut this meeting short. I am afraid I do not feel too well this morning. Tasji, help yourself to whatever you would like and make yourself at home." Then he turned his back to the table, walking toward the staircase. 

  


Tasji attempted to pull her into a hug in order to comfort her, when she abruptly shoved him away.

  


"Why are you pretending that you actually care when you didn't even care to say good-bye when I left?" She asked, icily. She became irritated and was startled when he chuckled. 

  


"Is that the reason why you've been angry all this time?" He asked, disbelievingly. She just looked away and glared at the small flower pot just few feet away. 

  


"Didn't you get my note and my gift?" She stopped glaring and looked at him, confused. She blinked a couple of times, demonstrating her cluelessness. 

  


Tasji smiled and shook his head, knowing that she never received his present. "I knew I couldn't go to the airport because I had to take the final exams so I wrote a little note for you and left it with a necklace beside your bed."

  


Feeling incredibly stupid for thinking that he didn't care about her for such a long time, she had the gall to blush, making him laugh. She was at a complete loss of words. 

  


"Oh."

  


"Darien, just freakin' calm down already!" Andrew and the guys rolled their eyes at his hysterical state.

  


Darien paced back and forth in his room. The guys were gathered in Darien's room as soon as they each got a call. Thinking that this was some kind of a life threatening emergency, they rushed to his house to find that Darien was having girl troubles. 

  


Darien continued to rant, "And what's with, 'I know him'?" He mimicked Serena. 

  


"And what's with his hair? It looks like a porcupine just hibernated in it." 

  


Chad snickered, "Kind of reminds me of _your hair, dude." This comment went ignored by Darien. _

  


"Hey, do porcupines hibernate?"

  


"Damn it! Do you think Serena likes older men?" Darien was still burnt from Serena kicking him out of her house and choosing that Japanese guy over him. Maybe she didn't feel the same way about him as he did about her after all. Maybe the whole time she was pretending to be annoyed, she was actually annoyed. Maybe when he was paying attention to her, all she could think about was that guy. He let out a frustrated growl and punched one of his pillows. 

  


"Of course, porcupines hibernate, dumbass!"

  


"Well, how was I supposed to know, dumbass!"

  


"Just shut the fuck up." Darien sighed. His friends were completely oblivious to his problems and even if they weren't oblivious, they probably wouldn't care enough to help. 

  


Andrew patted his best friend in the back as a sign of sympathy. "You know what you need, Darien? You need to get your mind off of her for one day and do something else."

  


Darien looked at Andrew and contemplated. "You know what, Drew? You're right."

  


Kevin added, "And instead of thinking about that chick, you need to get ready for the big game." 

  


At this, Darien ran his hands through his hair. He had entirely forgotten about the game! Coach was going to be furious. Damn it! Every one of his problems has to do with Serena! He had been thinking about Serena so much that he had missed practice at noon.

  


Chad stood up and scratched his belly. Drawling his words, he said, "Let's just forget about all this life shit and just surf." Justin shook his head. 

  


"There's too many people right now. I don't feel rubbing myself up against some old lady."

  


Agreeing with Justin, Chad yawned and said, "Then let's just hang at the mall. It's nice and cool." Grunts of agreement came from the guys and they left in their respective cars.   

  
  
  


"Tasji, I really don't feel like being here right now…" Serena found herself being dragged to the mall by Tasji. 

  


"You stopped calling me 'older brother.'" Tasji stopped and looked at her, noticing even further changes. 

  


Serena defended herself, "Hey, this is America. I don't have to call you that, you know." Tasji stared at her for a while with an unknown glint in his eye, and finally shrugged it off. Weaving his fingers through hers, he then proceeded to literally drag her to the nearest luxury boutique. Serena had to jog to barely catch up with him, her legs not being nearly as long as his. 

  


They walked into the store, hand in hand, gaining immediate attention from the workers. Having an eye for expensive possessions, the saleswomen quickly spotted Tasji's casual but still formal Armani attire and his genuine Rolex. From his appearance, it was obvious he would have the money to spend in their store. 

  


A neatly-dressed, blond woman made her way over to the couple, smiling. "Hi, would you like any help with finding anything?"

  


Serena was going to politely refuse when Tasji gave the woman a bored look and said, "Yes, I would like to buy some outfits for her. And make sure you find the right size and style. Something classy would be preferable."

  


"Yes, of course." Soon, Serena was being handed a variety of different skirts, blouses and dresses. They were the types of clothes she could never wear to school. So far she had never seen anyone wear a Gucci dress to school and she would certainly stand out in a crowd of t-shirts and blue jeans.  

  


"Miss?" Serena snapped her attention back to the woman. She was having a hard time focusing these days.

  


"Would you like to try these on?" Giving her a polite smile, Serena nodded and went into the fitting room. Tasji draped himself over one of the lounge chairs while receiving looks from the employees. He smirked. They were all the same. In Japan or in the United States, they all acted exactly the same. He sat up when he saw the fitting room door being opened. 

  


Serena tentatively stepped out, feeling self-conscious. The outfit was semi-casual and showed almost nothing, reminding her of something Mina would never wear. She was decked in a simple, white halter dress with wide straps and a high neckline and with a wavy hem that reached just below her knees. As if this dress was not covering enough, she had on a white, quarter-sleeved cardigan, only one of the buttons buttoned at the middle. Her shoes were a pair of two-inch heel sandals, also white. The blond saleswoman came over and started chatting away. Politely nodding, her eyes scanned the store. She found him staring at her with that same unknown glint in his eyes. Shrugging it off as the ceiling lights, she walked over slowly and hesitantly. She looked at him expectantly, but getting no response. 

  


"So? What do you think?" 

  


Tasji looked at her thoroughly and made a motion with his finger, signaling for her to turn around. Rolling her eyes while smiling and complying, she looked at him. 

  


"Looks good." The blond woman glowed, even more so than Serena. 

  


After two hours of choosing clothes, she rubbed her neck from exhaustion. Standing next to Tasji in the outfit she had first shown to him, she was appalled when she heard the bill.

  


"That will be six thousand, seven hundred and eighty three dollars, please."

  


Serena's mouth dropped in disbelief. How could just four outfits cost that much?! It was absolutely horrendous! After a period of momentary shock, she tried to protest at the cost, only to have Tasji hand the woman a credit card with an unsurprised expression. Then, she remembered that Tasji was well-off and that he could afford to spend this much money in one day. Her mind was suddenly brought back to the time when Tasji won over a girl by buying her an entire clothing store. And he was only sixteen then.  

  


"You've been doing that a lot." He looked at her with an amused smile. 

  


She looked over at him, finding his hands occupied by different sizes of beige shopping bags with the store's name neatly printed on them in silver. Giving him a small smile, she replied.

  


"Yeah. I was just thinking about a long time ago." 

  


Tasji shifted the bags into one hand and put his other hand through hers. Serena tensed, but soon just let herself relax. Many things were buzzing in her mind, Darien being one of them. She couldn't stop thinking about him ever since they left the house. She didn't know why, but she felt a weird sensation in her chest. Shrugging it off as exhaustion, she let herself enjoy this moment with Tasji. The equivalent of her older brother was back into her life. She should be happy, and she was. Except that one part of her brain kept reminding her of the incident with Darien earlier in the day. They walked side-by-side in comfortable silence, just letting their feet wander. A couple of minutes later, it was Tasji who started up the conversation again. 

  


"Who was that guy?" 

  


Serena's step slightly faltered, not unnoticed by Tasji, but she tried to cover it up by feigning ignorance. 

"Who?"

Amused, he went along with her charade. "That pompous jackass you were with earlier." 

  


Serena felt a strong impulse to defend him, when she caught herself just in time and replied with an "oh."

  


"Don't tell me he's your boyfriend." He looked at her. She didn't know what came over her, but she found herself denying his statement. 

  


"Oh, h-he's just a friend." As soon as she made this statement, she felt a wave of that same weird sensation washing over her. She attempted to assure herself that she wasn't lying and that she wasn't doing any wrong to Darien. However, the more she thought about it, the more she came to feel strange. She shook it off, thinking it was unnecessary to feel this way. They have only been on one date and they weren't officially going out. So, what was this feeling? Uneasily readjusting the white purse strap on her shoulder, she looked over at Tasji, who was giving her a dubious look, hoping to change the subject.

  


"Here, I'll carry some." This caused him to grin, confusing Serena. 

"What kind of a man would I be if I let the lady do the work?" He shifted the bags into one hand and grabbed her hand with the other. He then proceeded to drag her once again.

  


"I'm thirsty. Let's get something to drink." They entered a small café and sat in a small booth. 

  
  
  


"So, like, anyway, all of the sudden, this chic just dumps her coffee all over me and she's all, 'I have a stick up my ass.'" Justin was going into the details of his deficient love life when Darien was slouching in his chair, thinking about Serena, again. It bothered him that she was alone in her house with _him. And what made it worse was that her father approved of that guy, but didn't even know that he existed. _

  


"You know what, Justin? Maybe you're the prob, dude." Kevin slouched in his chair out of boredom. He was looking around the café for something interesting when something, or rather, someone, caught his eye. Wasn't that…? His eyes widened. 

  


"Holy shit, man." The other guys looked at him, waiting for an explanation. Kevin just lifted his hand and pointed at the woman. 

  


"Isn't that your chic, D?" 

  


Darien tensed and sat up straight. Following his friend's hand with his eyes, he stiffened when he saw Serena. It made him even tenser when he saw who she was sitting with. He saw the guy leaning over and tugging her hair lightly and he clenched his hand even tighter. Then the guy said something, which made Serena bring her hand up to her mouth and laugh. He felt his blood boil and saw red. 

  


Chad reached for his drink, still keeping his eyes on the couple. However, this proved not to be a brilliant idea when he knocked the glass over, spilling its contents onto Andrew's lap. 

  


"AH! WHAT THE FREAKIN' HELL!"

  
  
  


Serena was staring into her lap, not knowing what to say to a guy who she had not seen in five years. Suddenly, a hand reached over and tugged at her straight, layered hair. She looked up, puzzled. 

  


He grinned, "Grew out of the pigtails phase?" 

  


She laughed. The memory of her getting angry whenever he pulled at one of her pigtails sprang up in her mind. 

  


"What can I say? It just wasn't in style anymore," said Serena, pretending to be a pretentious, high-class woman. 

  


There was a loud outburst from a familiar voice, causing the two to look in the direction of the voice in reflex. Her eyes widened when she spotted a group of guys, Andrew being in the group, as well as…Darien. Their eyes clashed, and Serena could see his hurt and his anger for a brief second until he broke the contact and stormed out of the café. Standing up to chase after him, she was stopped by Tasji's strong hold on her arm which prevented her from leaving the booth. 

  


With the exception of Andrew, Darien's friends made an effort to give her malicious looks, but backed off a little when Tasji stood up and shot back a look of his own. The group stalked off slowly when Andrew gave them a push. 

  


Feeling completely dejected, it was then that she knew what the strange feeling was. It was absolute guilt and emptiness. It was guilt for when she had lied and told Tasji that there was nothing between her and Darien and it was emptiness for not being with Darien. She looked down at her feet as she felt her eyes water. She felt guilty that she did not think about how Darien would feel. She was totally and completely selfish. 

  


"You shouldn't have to feel guilty because of him." Tasji pulled her over to his side of the booth and seated her next to him. His arm was draped over her shoulder, and her head was leaning on his. He didn't care that her tears were slowly staining his expensive, tailored suit. All he could think about was that by walking out the door, Darien had just helped him to convince Serena to go back with him. 


End file.
